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DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE 



OF 



COUNT AXEL FERSEN 



VERSAILLES EDiri0N 
Limited to Eight Hundred Numbered Sets, of which 

No /.y..vj. 




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DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE 



OF 



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COUNT AXEL FERSEN 

GRAND-MARSHAL OF SWEDEN 
RELATING TO 

THE COURT OF FRANCE 

TRANSLATED BY 
KATHARINE PRESCOTT WORMELEY. 







ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS FROM THE ORIGINAL 



BOSTON: 

HARDY, PRATT & COMPANY. 

1902. 



THE I I8RARY OP 

OC»IO/»ESS, 
Two Cu.»ie» Keoeiveb 

fili. 3 1902 

CC>»^wKaMT SUTHi 

CLaSS Ct^ XXa Kio. 



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Copyright 1902, 
By Hardy, Pratt & Company. 



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COKTEKTS, 



CHAPTER I. —1755-1780. 

Page 

Introductory. — Count Fersen's first and second Visit to the French 
Court. — The Dauphine and Queen, Marie- Antoinette. — Fersen 
joins the French Expedition to America as Aide-de-camp to the 
Comte de Kochambeau 1 

CHAPTER n. — 1780-1782. 

Letters of Count Axel Fersen to his Father, Field-Marshal Fersen, 
during the French War in North America in aid of the Indepen- 
dence of the United States 21 

CHAPTER ni.— 1783-1791. 

Return to France. — Confidential mission of Count Fersen to the French 
Court from King Gustavus III. — Letters to his father and the 
King of Sweden on the political aspects of France at the opening 
of the Revolution. — The Emigration begins in July, 1789 ... 65 

CHAPTER IV.— 1791. 

Preparations for the Departure of the King and Royal Family from Paris. 
— The King has a settled Plan not fully revealed. — Safe Departure 
from Paris driven by Count Fersen. — The Stoppage at Varennes. 91 

CHAPTER v. — 1791. 

Vain efforts to induce the European Powers to take steps in behalf of 
the King and Queen of France. — Gallant Proposal of Gustavus 
III., King of Sweden 119 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. — 1791. 

Correspondence of Queen Marie-Antoinette with Count Fersen. — 
Official Letters of the same Period, showing the vain Efforts em- 
ployed to induce the Powers to act in hehalf of the King of France 
and his Family 144 

CHAPTER VIL — 1791. 

The same continued. — Efforts to ohtain a Congress. — Memorial of 
Count Fersen to the Queen, explaining the political Situation of the 
Powers and advising a Course of Action for the King and Queen 
of France 175 

CHAPTER VIII. — 1791-1792. 

Proposal of the King of Sweden to rescue the King and Queen of 
France declined by the King. — Louis XVI. compelled to declare 
war against the Princes of Germany. — Further Negotiations for a 
Congress 206 

CHAPTER IX. — 1792. 

Count Fersen's Diary. — His fruitless Mission to the King and Queen in 
Paris. — Death of the Emperor Leopold. — Death of Gustavus III., 
King of Sweden. — Advance and repulse of the French army under 
the Comte de Kochambeau. — Efforts to induce England to assist 
in the rescue of the King and Queen. — The 10th of August. — 
Imprisonment of the Royal Family in the Temple. — Fatal retreat 
of the Duke of Brunswick. — The Due de Choiseul's Account of 
August 10th, and of the Stoppage at Varennes 242 

CHAPTER X.— 1792-1793. 

Diary continued. — > Battle of Jemmapes. — Evacuation of Brussels and 
Flight of the Austrians and J^migr^s. — Trial and Execution of 
Louis XVI. — Dumouriez proposes to the Prince de Coburgto dash 
on Paris with fifty thousand Men and rescue the Queen. — Scheme 
defeated by Dumouriez's Army revolting against him. — The Queen 
removed to the Conciergerie. — Last fruitless Efforts of her few 
faithful Friends. — Her Death 278 



CONTENTS. Vll 

CHAPTER XL — 1792. 

Correspondence of Count Fersen with the King of Sweden until his 
Death, and with Queen Marie-Antoinette until the 10th of August, 
1792, when the Royal Family were imprisoned in the Tower of the 
Temple, and all written Communication with them ceased. — Brief 
Statement of Count Fersen's After-life and of his Death, June 20, 
1810 304 



APPENDIXES. 



Letter from Count Fersen to Baron Taube, November 19, 1792. — 
Letter from the Archbishop of Tours to Count Fersen describing 
the death of Louis XVI 347^ 349 



LIST OF 
PHOTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Count Axel Feesen Frontispiece 

From a miniature, painted in Paris, belonging to the Comtesse 
Louise Gyldenstolpe, nee Ferseu. 

Chaptee Page 

I. Makie- Antoinette, Dauphine 8 

By Duplessis ; Maitres Anciens. 

II. General Comte de Rochambeau 57 

From a print. 

V. Duchesse de Polignac 130 

By Mme. Vigee Le Brun ; Maitres du XIX Sifecle. 

VIII. GusTAVus III., King of Sweden 206 

Portrait of the time. Engraved by Girardet. 

IX. Pkincesse de Lamballe 254 

By Rioult (Louis-fidouard) Versailles. 

X. Queen Maeie-Antoinette 274 

Sketch by Mme. Vig^e Le Brun ; Maitres du XIX SiMe. 



1^ AC- SIMILE LETTERS 

Marie- Antoinette to Count Feesen, Dec. 28, 1791, Written in 
White Ink and Addressed on the Outside to Monsieur 
L'Abbe de Beauverin 223 

Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen, Jan. 4, 1792 225 



DIARY AND COERESPONDENCE 



OF 



COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 



CHAPTEE I. 



1755-1780. Introductory. — Count Tersen's first and second Visit to the 
French Court. — The Dauphine and Queen, Marie-Antoinette. — Fersen 
joins the French Expedition to America as Aide-de-camp to the Comte 
de Rochamheau. 

The Diary of Count Axel Fersen was not intended for 
publication. It is a collection of notes written daily to aid 
his memory from 1780 to 1810, the year of his death. He 
mentions with deep regret, in a letter to his intimate friend 
Baron Taube, that the portion from 1780 to 1791, was 
destroyed in Paris in 1791, as a matter of precaution, by the 
friend in whose care he had left it at the time of the flight 
to Varennes. A precious record was thus lost of Louis XVI. 
and Marie-Antoinette during their last years of peace and 
the first years of the Eevolution, written by one who judged 
them nobly, and apart from the vile prejudices and jealousies 
of their Court. But enough remains to form a connecting 
thread for his valuable and interesting Correspondence. 

These letters, papers, and documents are in the possession 
of Count Fersen's family, and the parts concerning his con- 
nection with the Court of France were published by his 

1 



2 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OE [chap. i. 

great-nephew, Baron Klmckowstrom, in 1878 (Paris, Firmin- 
Didot and Co.), from which edition this translation is made. 
The sketch of Count Fersen's life, which begins the present 
volume and is continued now and then through the course 
of it for the purpose of elucidating the diary and correspon- 
dence, is taken chiefly from the anonymous Introduction to 
the French edition, with a few comments from other sources 
which will be named as they occur. 

Count Jean Axel Fersen was born September 4, 1755, of a 
noble Swedish family distinguished in war by three field- 
marshals. He was the son of Field-marshal Frederick Axel 
Fersen, the eloquent leader of the political party called 
" Les Chapeaux," which, in harmony with France, followed 
a steady course of liberal opposition. Count Fersen, the 
father, battled, under support of fundamental laws, for the 
liberty of citizens against the assumptions of royal power 
tending to despotism. In this struggle King Gustavus III. 
was the chief actor on one side; on the other were the 
nobles, defending the cause of national liberty and the main- 
tenance of laws against despotism, and always inclining to 
oppose or ignore the sacred right of kings. 

Gustavus III. played an important part in the affairs of 
France at the beginning of the Eevolution. No other king 
has been so variously judged by his contemporaries and by pos- 
terity. He has been lauded beyond measure by his admirers, 
and regarded by them as the saviour of the country, the 
founder of a new era, a great statesman, a hero, a conqueror, 
the promoter of religious liberty, a literary man, a dramatist, 
devoid of vanity as a man and as a king. 

His political antagonists, on the other hand, charged him 
with all the worst propensities and faults of kings, and even 
with the foibles and vices of humanity, — levity, falsehood, 



1771] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 3 

prodigality, indifference to the welfare of his people; they 
called him tyrannical, despotic, perjured; attributing great 
crimes and evil-doings to him. The truth lies, as usual, be- 
tween the two extremes. The reason is that the life and 
actions of this king have never been sufficiently made known 
to warrant an impartial judgment. Gustavus III. was not 
the same man, the same king, at the beginning of his life 
that he was at the close of it : principles, views, will, plans, 
resolutions, all were changed in his versatile and fluctuating 
mind. The object of his actions also varied much. And 
yet, he began his reign by an act of great importance to his 
country, — the revolution of 1772 ; which crushed anarchy, 
and freed Sweden from dependence on foreign powers and 
from the evil effects of degrading corruption. That is one 
of the finest pages in the king's history. The ball of an in- 
famous assassin put an end to his life, March 6, 1792, made 
a martyr of him, and drew a veil over his faults and his 
foibles. 

When young Axel Fersen was sixteen years old he was 
sent by his father, in charge of a tutor, to study the art and 
profession of arms in foreign countries and thus complete 
his education. During this journey, which lasted four years, 
he studied in the military schools of Brunswick, Turin, and 
Strasburg. A journal which he kept very punctually during 
those years gives a picture of his youthful mind and his way 
of looking at what he saw. 

Basle, October 17, 1771. I find here all sorts of extraor- 
dinary customs which divert me much. For instance, the 
town clock is always one hour in advance of the clocks of 
other countries. This difference, they tell me, goes back to 
a remote period when the inhabitants resolved to kill their 
chief magistrate, who, warned of the plot, foiled the con- 



4 DIARY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap, i, 

spirators by putting on the hands of the clock. — It is not 
permissible to dance in Basle unless the master of the house 
plays the violin himself; and you can drive in a carriage 
only up to ten o'clock at night, without servants behind, and 
in a plain carriage of one colour only and no gilding. It is 
forbidden to have silk fringes in the carriage or on the 
harness when you drive to church, and the ladies must wear 
black, not gowns but dishabilles. Diamonds, pearls, laces, 
and pretty things of all kinds are forbidden. It is good taste 
not to go out before five o'clock ; at that hour visits are 
made to family circles. 

One of my acquaintances offered to take me to the 
AssemhUe du Printemps [assembly of Spring-buds] ; he pre- 
sented me first to his sister and she introduced me to this 
assembly, which is entirely composed of young girls. What 
surprised me extremely was to see these young ladies arriv- 
ing alone, or with a gentleman, and no maid or man-servant. 
They played cards and talked with foreigners or with the 
young men of the town who had the honour to be admitted. 
They go to walk in the promenades all alone. 

Geneva^ October 30, 1771. We had a letter to M. Con- 
stant, an intimate friend of M. de Voltaire. He took us the 
next day to the country-house of Mme. Jennigs, a very agree- 
able woman, who talked to us much about Sweden. Erom 
there we went to see M. de Voltaire at Ferney, a very pretty 
house which he built himself on French soil. But he did 
not receive us ; he had taken, they told us, a purgative ; 
which is the pretext he gives when he does not wish to see 
people ; he appointed for us to come on the following day, 
which obliged us to stay longer than we intended. We were 
received at the appointed time and talked with him for two 
hours. He was dressed in a scarlet waistcoat with old em- 
broidered buttonholes, which his father and his grandfather 



1774] COUNT AXEL TERSEN. 5 

had doubtless worn before him. An old wig, not curled, old- 
fashioned shoes, woollen stockings, pulled on over his drawers, 
and an old dressing-gown completed his toilet, admirably in 
keeping with his wrinkled face ; but we were struck with the 
beauty of his eyes and the liveliness of his glance. The 
whole air of the face was very satirical. 

He had with him P^re Adam, a Jesuit, and a valet de 
chamhre who knows the whole library of his master by 
heart. M. de Voltaire does much good in his village ; he 
has collected all the watch-makers of Geneva and makes 
them work at his house ; the part of his house where he once 
had a theatre he has now converted into lodging-rooms which 
he puts at their disposal, and he provides for their wants. 

Turin, November 11, 1771. While we were at the Acad- 
emy the governor presented us to the king [Charles-Em- 
manuel III.], a little wrinkled old fellow walking with the 
help of a cane. After several compliments he gave me a 
lecture, saying that I ought to diligently profit by the teach- 
ings of the Academy in order to defer to the wishes of my 
relatives who had sent me to Turin. His son, the Due de 
Savoie, was very polite, and so were all the family. 

Paris, January 1, 1774. New Year's day, as they call it 
here. I had to go to Versailles to pay my court to the king 
[Louis XV.] and see the ceremony of the Order of the Saint- 
Esprit. By ten o'clock I was at Versailles. The ceremony 
consists of a mass at which the kiag and all the chevaliers 
of the Order are present in full dress. After having dined, 
I went with Count Creutz ^ to pay a visit to Mme. du Barry. 
She spoke to me then for the first time. Leaving her, we 
returned to Paris. 

January 3. I went to pay a visit to the Spanish am- 

1 Swedish ambassador to the French Court, often mentioned by Mile, de 
Lespinasse. See preceding volume of this Hist. Series. — Te. 



6 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OP [chap, i, 

bassador ; Count Creutz took me later to see' the Comtesse 
de Brionne, who received us in her dressing-room, I thought 
her very good-looking, although of a certain age : she is tall, 
well-made, pretty in face, amiable, and very gay. I saw a 
part of her toilet which amused me very much. After hav- 
ing powdered herself, she took a little silver knife, about a 
finger long, and carefully removed the powder, going over 
her face several times. Then one of her women, of whom 
she had three, brought a large box, which she opened ; in it 
were six pots of rouge, and another box, small, which was 
full of a pommade that seemed to me black. The Comtesse 
took some rouge on her finger and daubed it on her cheek, 
it was the prettiest rouge that ever was ; she increased it by 
taking more from all the six pots, two and two. Then she 
rose, and went into her bedchamber, where her daughter. 
Mile, de Lorraine, came and joined her ; the latter did not 
seem to me as handsome as they said she was, but she has a 
very lively and piquant face. 

January 10. I went at three o'clock to the ball of 
Madame la Dauphine [Marie-Antoinette]. The ball began, 
as usual, at five o'clock, and lasted till half -past nine ; I then 
returned to Paris. 

January 30. I dined with M. Bloome, Danish minister ; 
thence I went to Mme. d'Arville, and, after talking with 
her half an hour, T went to the assembly at the Spanish 
ambassador's, where Count Creutz took me up and drove 
me to the house of the Princesse de Beauvau, and then to a 
concert of Stroganoff. At nine o'clock we all went together 
to sup with Mme. d'Arville, whence I started at one o'clock 
for the masked ball at the opera. It was crowded : Mme. la 
Dauphine, M. le Dauphin, and the Comte de Provence came 
and spent half an hour there without their presence being 
noticed. Mme. la Dauphine talked to me a long time with- 



177i] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 7 

out my recognizing her. At last she let it be known who 
she was, and then every one crowded round and she retired 
into a box. At three o'clock I left the ball. 

January 31. Went to Versailles at three o'clock. Ee- 
turned to dress and was, by a quarter past nine, with Mme. 
d'Arville, who had invited me to supper the evening before. 
We were five, and the supper was very gay. At one o'clock 
we separated. 

Wednesday , February 2. Had to get up at eight o'clock 
to go and order a suit to be ready at midnight for the ball at 
the Palais-Eoyal. In the afternoon I paid visits to the 
Duchesse d'Arville, Mme. du Deffand, and the Comtesse de 
La Marck, the latter of whom loaded me with civilities. 
She had been so good as to write me a note, a few days 
earlier, excusing herself because I had made frequent visits 
at her house without finding her: she now reiterated the 
same excuses and said she hoped I should not feel discour- 
aged ; in short, I was enchanted with her politeness and her 
gracious manners. It was a quarter past nine when I left 
her. I then went to see de G^er, where Poniatowski came 
at midnight. They went off together to the Palais-Eoyal. 
I had waited impatiently all the evening for my suit, and I 
felt myself getting angry, when they brought it just as de 
G^er went off. I dressed in haste and went to the Palais- 
Eoyal. On entering, I was much surprised to see all the 
women dressed as shepherdesses, in gauze and taffeta gowns, 
and all the men in rich suits embroidered along the seams. 
The ball had begun ; I thought at first it was a public ball 
and that the girls who were dancing were wantons ; I 
imagiued that ladies always wore rich costumes. There 
were only twenty women present, and the ball was not very 
lively and only lasted till six o'clock ; I then escaped, for no 
one remained but the Duchesse de Chartres, the Duchesse 



8 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OE [chap. i. 

de Bourbon, Mme. de Laval, and Mme, de Holstein, who is, 
beyond contradiction, the best and prettiest dancer in Paris. 
As I went away I reflected that the French do not know 
how to amuse themselves ; they have the bad habit of say- 
ing, " I am ennuyed," and that poisons all their pleasures. 

February 15, Mardi gras. Ball at Versailles, I went 
towards the end of it. Mme. la Dauphine, Mme. de Pro- 
vence, Mme. d'Artois, Mme. de Lamballe, and two other 
ladies came with the Dauphin, M. de Provence, M. d'Artois, 
MM. de S6gur, de Coigny, and one other, all wearing the cos- 
tume of Henri IV., which is the old French style. They 
danced different entrees, some of them very badly, especially 
the Dauphin and M. de Provence; the others pretty well. 
The coup-d'oeil was charming.^ I returned from there to sup 
with de G^er, then at one o'clock I went to a ball given by 
the ambassador of Malta. 

Sunday, February 20. Supped with the Duchesse d'Arville, 
who, as usual, overwhelmed me with kindness and civilities, 
and so did her sister, the Duchesse d Estisac. 

I paid visits pretty regularly, and often went to the theatre. 

1 Description of Marie-Antoinette as Dauphine in the " Memoires 
Secrets " by Bachaumont : " Here is the exact portrait of Madame la \ 
Dauphine. This princess is of a height proportioned to her age, thin, 
without being emaciated, and such as a young girl is when not fully 
formed. She is very well-made, well-proportioned in all her limbs. Her 
hair is a beautiful blond ; I judge it will some day be a golden chest- 
nut; it is well planted on her head. Her forehead is fine; the shape of 
her face a handsome oval, but a little long, the eyebrows are as well 
marked as a blonde can have them. Her eyes are blue, but not insipid ; ' 
they sparkle with a vivacity full of intelligence. Her nose is aquiline, a 
little sharp at the tip ; her mouth is small, the lips full, especially the 
lower one, which every one knows to be the Austrian lip. The whiteness 
of her skin is dazzling, and she has a natural colour which dispenses her 
from putting on rouge. Her j carriage and bearing .is that of an arch- 
duchess ; but her dignity is tempered by gentleness, and it is difficult on 
seeing this princess to refuse her a respect mingled with tenderness." 
— Tr. 



1774] COUNT AXEL FEKSEN. 9 

Count Creutz took me to the house of the Marquis de 
Brancas, where much politeness was shown to me. I supped 
there several times, and on Friday, March 4, they gave a 
charming little ball ; five gentlemen and six ladies danced 
from eight in the evening till six in the morning. We only 
left off one hour for supper. These dancing-suppers are 
often given during Lent in Paris ; where times of abstinence 
are not so strictly kept as in Italy, where people would think 
themselves excommunicated if they danced at this season, 
and a woman who committed such a fault would hurry the 
next morning to confess it and obtain absolution. 

[It was at this time that the Swedish ambassador. Count 
Creutz, wrote to King Gustavus III., May 20, 1774, in praise 
of the youth as follows : — 

" The young Count Fersen has just departed for London. 
Of all the Swedes who have been here in my time he is the 
one who has been the most welcomed by the great world. 
The royal family have treated him remarkably well. It is 
not possible to have shown a more discreet and becoming 
conduct than he has maintained. With the handsomest 
face and much intelligence he could not fail to succeed in 
society, and he has done so completely. Your Majesty may 
certainly be content with him ; but what makes Count Fersen 
even more worthy of Your Majesty's kindness is that he 
thinks nobly and with singular loftiness." 

Count Axel arrived in London May 15, 1774, and stayed 
there four months ; amusements of all kinds interfered with 
the regularity of his journal, but some of his notes are of 
permanent interest.] 

Monday, May 16, 1774. At eight o'clock we went to 
Eanelagh. I was struck, on entering, with the magnificence 



10 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. i. 

of the coup-d'oeil, and the beauty of the hall, built in a circle 
and of great height. In the centre is a species of altar, very 
large, and the seats surround it ; it is there that they heat 
the water for the tea. The seats, as well as the boxes, 
which are built round the outer wall, are filled from seven 
o'clock till midnight, at which hour every one withdraws. 
Above the boxes are galleries where people promenade, and 
nothing is more agreeable than to sit there and watch them 
as they circulate about. The illumination is very fine. The 
men are not allowed to give their arm to the women, imless 
they are married to them. They leave them to walk about 
alone and come and speak to them only occasionally. 

Wednesday, May 18. At midday I went to Court with 
Baron Nolcken. The apartments are neither large nor mag- 
nificently furnished ; nothing about them bespeaks the gran- 
deur of a king. The chandeliers are of wood, gilt or silvered 
according to the importance of the room. When the king 
was dressed we entered his chamber, where we saw an old 
bed of red velvet, blackened by smoke and shiny with 
grease, before which was a sort of railing of silver wire. The 
king [George III.] is obliged to speak to every one, and when 
he came to Baron Nolcken I was presented. He spoke to 
me, but in a very low voice, for that is his way. As his con- 
versation is limited to three or four topics, he is afraid the 
others shall hear that he asks the same questions of every- 
body. 

Thursday, May 19. I have been presented to Queen 
Charlotte, who is very gracious and amiable, but not at all 
pretty. In the evening I was taken by the Earl of ... to 
Almack's, a ball which is given by subscription throughout 
the winter. The hall where they danced was well-arranged 
and brilliantly lighted. The dancing ought to begin at ten 
o'clock, but the men stay at their clubs till half -past eleven ; 



1778] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 11 

during tlie interval the women wait, sitting on "benches to 
right and left of the long gallery in great ceremony; one 
would think they were at church; they are all sad and 
serious, and never even speak to each other. The supper, 
which takes place at midnight, is very well served and is a 
little less sad than the rest. I was placed beside Lady Car- 
penter, one of the handsomest young girls in London ; she 
was very agreeable and talked much. I had occasion to see 
her a few days later, and addressed a few polite words to 
her ; which she did not even answer. I was much surprised 
to see the young ladies talking tete-a-tete with men, and go- 
ing about by themselves. It reminded me of Lausaunne 
where they enjoy entire liberty. 

[The young count returned to Sweden at the beginning of 
the year 1775. He was already a lieutenant, unattached, in 
the Eoyal-Bavifere regiment of the French army ; he was 
now made a captain, unattached, of the light-horse cavalry of 
the King of Sweden. He took part in all the amusements 
of the Court of Gustavus III., then considered the gayest in 
Europe ; but the desire to follow the example of his ances- 
tors on the battle-field pursued him. Sweden being at peace 
without prospect of war, he had to seek a military career in 
foreign countries. He went first to London in 1778, where 
he stayed three months. Thence he went to Paris, arriving 
there during the dull season, when the great world had 
scattered into the country.] 

Paris, August 25, 1778. I had to begin by being pre- 
sented to the persons who were still in Paris, of whom there 
were but few. Creutz took me to call on Mme. de Boufflers, 
a charming woman and one of the most renowned in Paris 
for her wit. She is in close correspondence with the king 



12 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. i. 

[Gustavus III.]. I was perfectly well received. She has a 
daughter-in-law whom she loves to adoration, who is beauti- 
ful as an angel, but capricious to the last degTee. I saw 
Mme. Dusson, the wife of our ambassador ; she is a good, fat 
Dutchwoman, malicious and caustic as a demon when she 
takes a dislike to any one ; but otherwise very polite. She 
has always overwhelmed me with civilities and friendship. 
Mme. du Deffand is still blind. 

August 26, 1778. Last Tuesday I went to Versailles to 
be presented to the royal family. The queen, who is charm- 
ing, said when she saw me, " Ah ! here is an old acquaint- 
ance." The rest of the family did not say a word to me. 

Septemher 8, 1778. The queen, who is the prettiest and 
most amiable princess that I know, has had the kindness to 
inquire about me often ; she asked Creutz why I did not go 
to her card parties on Sundays ; and hearing that I did go 
one Sunday when there was none, she sent me a sort of ex- 
cuse. Her pregnancy advances and is quite visible. 

November 19, 1778. The queen treats me with great 
kindness ; I often pay her my court at her card-games, and 
each time she makes to me little speeches that are full of 
good-will. As some one had told her of my Swedish uni- 
form, she expressed a wish to see me in it ; I am to go Thurs- 
day thus dressed, not to Court, but to the queen's apartments. 
She is the most amiable princess that I know. 

In a letter to his father, dated November 19, 1778, he 
says : — 

" My stay here becomes every day more and more agreeable. 
I make new acquaintances all the time, and I think I can 
soon, without incommoding myself, cultivate them all. I 
have not yet seen the Due de Choiseul; he is in Paris, but 
his house is not open. All the persons whom I knew on my 
first visit seem to see me again with pleasure. In short, it 



1778] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 13 

is a cliarming place, where nothing is lacking to me to he 
perfectly happy but the satisfaction of seeing you, my dear 
father." 

[During this time, however, the jealousy of the courtiers 
was roused. Fersen was received into the queen's most pri- 
vate circle ; much was said about the little f§tes given by 
Mmes. de Lamballe and de Polignac to which very few were 
admitted, but Fersen was among them. The malice of dis- 
appointed courtiers was the origin of the calumnies against 
Marie-Antoinette, and it was convenient to publicly connect 
them with the name of the young foreigner. An allusion to 
these tales appears in a private despatch of Count Creutz 
addressed to Gustavus III., April 10, 1779 : — 

" I ought to confide to Your Majesty that the young Count 
Fersen has been so well received by the queen that this has 
given umbrage to several persons. I own that I cannot help 
thinking that she had a liking for him ; I have seen too 
many indications to doubt it. The conduct of the young 
coimt has been admirable on this occasion for its modesty 
and its reserve, but above all, in the decision he made to go 
to America. By thus departing he avoided all dangers ; but 
it needed, evidently, a firmness beyond his years, to sur- 
mount that seduction. The queen's eyes could not leave 
him, during the last days, and they often filled with tears. 
I entreat Your Majesty to keep this secret, for her sake and 
that of Senator Fersen. When the courtiers heard of Count 
Fersen's departure they were delighted. The Duchesse de 
Fitz- James said to him, 'Why! monsieur, is this the way 
you abandon your conquest ? ' ' If I had made one, I should 
not abandon it,' he replied. ' I go with freedom, and, un- 
fortunately, I leave no regrets behind me.' Your Majesty 
will agree that that answer shows a wisdom and prudence 



14 DIAEY AND COKRESPONDENCE OF [chap. i. 

beyond his years. In other respects the queen behaves with 
much more reserve and wisdom than formerly. The king is 
not only quite submissive to her will, but he shares her 
tastes and her pleasures." 

These mischievous rumours had and could have had no 
real foundation, because young Fersen was at this time 
meditating a marriage with Mile, de Leijel, of a noble 
Swedish family, whose father was naturalized in England, 
where he had inherited an immense fortune from two un- 
married uncles, members of the East India Company of 
London, where the family resided. Many letters from Count 
Axel communicated this project to his father, who highly 
approved of it. The war in North America and an absence 
of five years caused the young people to forget their first 
attachment, and Mile, de Leijel married, in 1783, John 
Eichard West, fourth Earl of Delawarr. 

Perhaps, the most cruel fact in the history of Marie- 
Antoinette is that the calumnies against her began in the 
circle of her friends, whom she unwisely trusted. What 
wonder if her heart were touched by the youth who was 
destined (as we shall presently see) to give her, from first 
to last, the chivalrous devotion of a knight of old, high 
above all personal considerations. Two men have spoken 
of Marie-Antoinette in words that should never be forgotten : 
one is the gay, light-hearted Prince de Ligne, who knew her 
intimately during these very years ; ^ the other is M. de 
Sainte-Beuve, whose words are as follows : — ] 

" There is a way of considering Marie-Antoinette which 
seems to me the true way, and I would fain define it, be- 
cause it is in this direction that, as I believe, the definitive 

1 See the " Memoirs of the Prince de Ligne, " of the present Hist. 
Series. — Tr. 



1778] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 15 

judgment of history will go. Some persons may, from a 
lofty feeling of compassion, fall in love with the ideal in- 
terest attaching to her, endeavour to defend her at all points, 
make themselves her advocates, her knights toward and against 
all comers, and resent the mere idea of stains and foibles 
that others think they have discovered in her life. The 
r6le of such defenders is to be respected when it is sincere ; 
and we can well understand it in those who worship the 
traditions of the old royalty ; but it moves me far less in 
others with whom it is merely a chosen view. That point 
of view is not mine, and it is difficult that it should be that 
of men who were not brought up in the religion of the 
ancient monarchy. 

" What seems to me safer, more desirable for the tender 
memory of Marie-Antoinette is to see that it is possible to 
disengage from the multitude of writings and testimonies 
of which she has been the object a noble, beautiful, and 
gracious figure, — with its weaknesses, its frivolities, its 
frailties perhaps, but with the essential qualities, preserved 
in all their integrity, of woman, mother, and, at moments, 
queen ; with kindness ever generous, and, in the final hours, 
with the virtues of resignation, courage, and gentleness 
that crown a vast misfortune. It is thus that, once estab- 
lished historically on that plane, which is noble indeed, 
she will continue in future ages to interest all those who, 
indifferent to the politics of the past, treasure the delicate 
human sentiments which form part of civilization as of 
nature, — all those who weep over the sorrows of Hecuba and 
of Andromache, and who, reading the tale of sorrows like 
theirs, but greater still, will mourn them in reality. 

" But there is this difference, that poesy alone presents the 
traditions of Andromache and Hecuba ; we have no memoirs 
of the Court of Priam ; whereas we have those of the Court of 



16 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OE [chap. i. 

Louis XVI., and tliere is no way to avoid taking account 
of them. Wliat say these memoirs about Marie-Antoinette ? 
I speak of the true memoirs, not the libellous ones. What 
says the Comte de La Marck, who presents so well the spirit 
of that first epoch of the young dauphine's life. Arriving 
in France when fifteen years of age, she was not nineteen 
when she found herself a queen beside Louis XVI. That 
prince, furnished with a solid education and endowed with 
the moral qualities which we know, but feeble, timid, 
brusque, rough, and particularly ungainly towards women, 
had nothing of what was needful to guide his young wife. 
She, the daughter of an illustrious mother, was not brought 
up by Maria Theresa, — too busy with the affairs of State to 
attend to the affairs of family, — so that her early education 
in Vienna had been much neglected. No one had given her 
a taste for, or even the idea of serious reading. Her mind, by 
nature quick and honest, ' seized and rapidly comprehended 
the things that were said to her,' but it had neither a wide 
range nor great capacity, — nothing, in short, that could re- 
pair the want of education, or take the place of experience. 
Amiable, gay, and innocently merry, she had, above all, 
'great kindness of heart and a persistent desire to oblige 
the persons who surrounded her.' She had also a great 
need of friendship and intimacy, and she at once sought for 
some one with whom to ally herself in a manner that was 
not customary at Court. Her ideal of happiness (every one 
has his or her ideal) was, evidently, that of escaping from 
ceremonies which bored her, to find an agreeable, merry, 
devoted, chosen society, in the bosom of which she could 
forget she was queen — all the while remembering it very 
well in her heart. She delighted in giving herself the 
pleasure of this forgetfulness, and in recalling what she was 
only in shedding kind favours around her. We have seen, 



1778] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 17 

in comic operas and pastorals, disguised queens who thus 
made the joy and charm of all around them. Marie- 
Antoinette had precisely this ideal of a happy life, which 
she might have realized without impropriety had she re- 
mained a mere archduchess in Vienna, or reigned a simple 
sovereign in some Tuscany or Lorraine. But in France she 
could not lead that life with impunity ; her little Trianon, 
with its dairies, its shepherdesses, and its comedies, was too 
near Versailles. Envy prowled about those too exclusive 
regions, — Envy, beckoning to stupidity and calumny. 

" M. de La Marck, in a brief Notice inserted in the Intro- 
duction to a work lately published on Mirabeau, has very 
well shown the injury it was to the queen to confine her- 
self at first so exclusively to the circle of the Comtesse Jules 
de Polignac, giving to the latter with the name of friend 
the attitude of a favourite, and to all the men of that coterie 
(the Vaudreuils, Besenvals, and Adhemars) pretensions and 
rights which they speedily abused, each in the line of his 
own temper and his own ambition. Although she never 
knew the extent of this injury she nevertheless perceived 
some part of it ; she felt that where she had looked for re- 
pose and relief from high rank, she found only selfish 
besetments; and when some one said to her that she 
showed too much preference to foreigners of distinction who 
passed through France, and that this might do her injury 
with Frenchmen, she answered sadly, 'You are right, but 
they at least ask nothing of me.' 

" Some of the men who, admitted into this intimacy and 
favour of the queen, were the most bound to gratitude and 
respect, were the first to speak of her disrespectfully, be- 
cause they did not find her sufficiently docile to their wishes. 
Once, when she seemed to separate herself a little from the 
Polignac circle, ' a frequenter of that circle ' (whom M. de 

2 



18 DIAKY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. i. 

La Marck does not name, but who seems to have been one 
of the most important men of it) * wrote a very malignant 
couplet against the queen ; and that couplet, founded on an 
infamous lie, circulated through Paris.' It was thus that 
the Court itself and the private circle of the queen supplied 
the first leaven that mingled with the scurrilities and in- 
famies of the outside public. She herself was ignorant of 
all this ; she did not suspect what influenced people against 
her at Versailles, any more than what alienated the public 
of Paris. 

" To-day, even, when testimony is quoted in reference to 
Marie- Antoinette — testimony of some one of note — it is from 
the ' Memoirs of the Baron de Besenval ' that it is usually 
taken. She sends for Besenval in 1778 on the occasion 
of the duel between the Comte d'Artois and the Due de 
Bourbon ; he is introduced by Mme. Campan (her secretary) 
into a private room which he did not know, ' simply, but com- 
modiously furnished. — I was astonished,' he adds in pass- 
ing, ' not that the queen should have desired such facilities, 
but that she dared to procure them.' That single sentence, 
dropped by the way, as it were, is full of insinuations, on 
which the queen's enemies have not failed to fasten. 

"Here I shall not affect more reserve than is proper; 
neither shall I fear to touch on the delicate point of all this. 
There are persons whose prepossessions deny absolutely all 
levity and aU weakness in the heart of the queen (supposing 
always that such persons still exist at this period). Por 
myself, I boldly think that the interest which attaches to 
her memory, the pity excited by her misfortunes and the 
noble manner in which she bore them, the execration that 
her judges and executioners deserve, do not in any way de- 
pend on anterior discovery of some frailty of womanhood, and 
cannot in the slightest degree be invalidated by it. And now, 



1778] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 19 

in the present state of Mstorical information about Marie- 
Antoinette, taking into account all true testimony, remember- 
ing also what we have heard related by contemporaries who 
were sufficiently well-informed, it is very permissible to think 
that this affectionate and eager woman, wholly given to impres- 
sions, loving elegant manners and chivalrous forms, needing, 
simply enough, expansion and protection, may have had, 
during those fifteen years of her youth, some preference of 
the heart ; indeed, it would be strange had it been otherwise. 
Many ambitious men, many fatuous men had pretensions 
and failed ; attempts were made, beginnings without number, 
Lauzun in his Memoirs tells of his, and explains it after his 
fashion ; but the fact remains that, in one way or another, 
he failed, 

" The Prince de Ligne, who was often in France at this 
period, and was one of those foreigners wholly French and 
charming who particularly pleased the queen, speaks of her 
thus: 'Her so-called gallantry was never anything but a 
deep sense of friendship, which, perhaps, distinguished one 
or two persons, and a general coquetry of woman and queen 
which sought to please every one.' This impression, or conjec- 
ture, which I find in other good observers who were near to 
Marie-Antoinette is, and will remain, I think, the probable 
truth. These ' two persons ' whom she particularly dis- 
tinguished at different periods appear to have been the Due 
de Coigny, a prudent man already mature, and, later. Count 
Fersen, colonel of the Eoyal-Swedish regiment in the service 
of France, a man of lofty and chivalrous nature, who, in 
the days of misfortune, proved himself such by an absolute 
devotion." 

[From the beginning of the year 1779 Count Axel Fersen, 
liberal in opinion through family tradition and parental ex- 



20 DIAEY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. i. 

ample, and inspired by the new entliusiasm then reigning in 
France, demanded earnestly to be allowed to take part in the 
expedition of French troops to the war of independence then 
going on in North America. At last, thanks to the recom- 
mendation of the King of Sweden [Gustavus TIL] and to the 
exertions of his ambassador, Count Creutz, thanks also to 
the friendship of the Comte deVergennes for his father, young 
Fersen was appointed aide-de-camp to the Comte de Vaux, 
who had just been made commander of the first expedition, 
which was to have sailed from Havre-de-Grace, where the 
troops assembled, but never did so. 

It was not until the spring of 1780 that young Fersen 
embarked at Brest, as aide-de-camp to the Comte de Eocham- 
beau, commanding the expeditionary corps of the French 
army to aid the Americans in their war of independence 
against England. His letters to his father, from that period 
until 1783, extracts from which here follow, are of very 
great interest from their contents during three campaigns. 
After taking part in the expedition to Rhode Island, Count 
Fersen was present at the siege and capitulation of York- 
town when the English general, Cornwallis was made prisoner 
with all his troops, October 19, 1781, which contributed in a 
great measure to put an end to the war. Young Fersen had 
been employed by General Comte de Rochambeau, in pref- 
erence to the other aides-de-camp, during the conferences 
with General Washington and the other leaders of the 
American army ; and it was he who conducted the negotia- 
tions, — a preference founded as much on his personal quali- 
ties as on his knowledge of the English language.] 



1780] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 21 



CHAPTER II. 

1780-1783. Letters of Count Axel Fersen to his Father, Field-Marshal 
Fersen, during the French War in North America in aid of the Inde- 
pendence of the United States. 

Pakis, March 2, 1780. 

You see me, my dear father, at tlie summit of my wishes. 
A great expedition of 12,000 men is being fitted out, but they 
assure me it will mount up to 20,000, I have obtained per- 
mission to belong to it as aide-de-camp to the general, who is 
M. de Eochambeau ; but I am told to keep this secret, for it 
has been refused to many others. Every one wishes to go, 
so they have taken a firm resolution not to send any but the 
officers belonging to the marching regiments. I owe this 
obligation to M. de Vergennes ; he took charge of the affair. 
I am in a state of joy that cannot be expressed. 

When I spoke to M. de Eochambeau, he said all sorts of 
civil things to me, and tallied to me a long time of you, 
father ; he ended by saying he was charmed to have me with 
him, and be able to show how much he esteemed you and 
how sincerely he was attached to you. The generals who 
are with him are: the Marquis de Jaucourt, the Comte 
de Caraman, and the Marquis de Viomesnil ; the last two 
have much reputation ; that of M. de Eochambeau is already 
secure ; it is, in general, the best choice that could have been 
made. There are three German regiments : Anhalt, Eoyal- 
Deux-Ponts, and Eoyal-Corsican. I have not yet seen the 
list of the French regiments, but their colonels have orders to 
be at Brest on the 15th, — we on the 25th, to sail April 1st to 
4th. The convoy will be escorted by twelve ships of the 



22 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

line and a sufficient number of frigates. Our fleet is com- 
manded by M. Duchaffaud, and Comte d'Estaing commands 
that of observation, which, is to remain in the Channel all 
winter. The navy will burst with vexation ; but I think it 
is for the good of the thing. 

Brest, April 4,. 1780. 

Our embarkation is getting on; the artillery, munitions, 
and commissariat are already on board, and we shall be busy 
now with that of the troops. The first regiment arrives to- 
day, and all will be embarked by the 8th. M. de Eocham- 
beau wants to be in the roadstead by the 10th so as to set 
sail the 12 th or 13th. I am so glad I do not know what to 
do with myself, but my joy will not be perfect till we are 
off Cape Fiaisterre. 

I wrote you, my dear father, that our division (for it can- 
not yet be called an army) was of 7,683 men ; that number 
has been reduced to 5000 by the negligence and inefficiency 
with which everything is now done in this country. You 
shall judge : when it was first a question of this expedition, 
the number of men was fixed at 4000. M. de Eochambeau 
refused to take charge of it in view of that small number ; he 
said that he could not accept the command if there were 
less than 7000 men ; on which every one blamed him for the 
modesty of that number; he replied that he was sure of 
having more than he could carry with him. The event justi- 
fied his speech; for instead of a tonnage of 30,000 which M. 
de Sartine [minister of the navy] promised him, there proved 
to be in aU the transports collected at Brest only 10,000 
tons ; the allowance being a man to each two tons, — the third 
of what was promised ! However, by dint of management 
we found means to leave only 2595 men behind us and to 
sail with 5088. 

This puts us in despair, and we cannot help being sur- 



1780] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 23 

prised and indignant that they never thought of sending the 
ships from Havre and Saint-Malo to Brest during the winter, 
instead of waiting till spring, when the pirates of Jersey 
prevent communication between the three ports. This is 
happening now ; we had counted on ten or twelve large ships 
from Havre and Saint-Malo ; but they had to return to port 
for fear of being taken ; and we have written to Bordeaux to 
get others. We expect them daily ; but if they do not come 
before the 12th we shall sail without them, and the rest of 
our little army must join us when it can. I have reason 
to think it will be increased by 4000 men; this is very 
necessary. 

We have four general officers : the Chevalier de Chastellux, 
the Chevalier and the Baron de Viomesnil (two brothers), and 
M. de Wichtenstein, formerly colonel of the Anhalt regi- 
ment ; all four are brigadier-generals. We are taking much 
artillery ; the siege train is very considerable. We have pro- 
visions for four months at sea, and three months ashore. 
We shall be escorted by seven vessels of the line : the " Due 
de Bourgogne," 80 guns, the " ISTeptune," 74, the " Conquer- 
ant," 74, the " Jason," 64, the " Eveim," 64, the " Provence," 
64, the " Ardent," 64 (that is the one that was taken by the 
English last year), and two frigates. The convoy is of 24 
transports. 

At sea, May 16 (Monday), 1780, on board 
the " Jason " off Einisterre. 

I have only time to write you two words to tell you I am 
well. I have not suffered from seasickness. We have al- 
ready had rough weather, which dismasted one of our ships. 
The wind is fair, and I thuik that in forty days we may 
reach America. We have sighted a large vessel in the dis- 
tance, and do not know whether it is friend or enemy. I 
have no time to write more. 



24 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

August 5, 1780. Newport, in Rhode Island. 

The letter I wrote you on July 16, which returned to 
Newport on the 23d on account of the appearance of the 
English fleet, is now at the bottom of the sea. The ship that 
carried it sank as it left the harbour July 30, having struck 
a rock. In it I sent you an account of a naval fight we 
had, also a plan, and a short account from my journal of our 
voyage. I have no time to rewrite the fight,, or sketch the 
plan ; as for the journal, here it is : — 

May 4, left Brest; met a gale in the bay of Biscay 11th; 
17th, doubled Cape Finisterre ; went southward to the 27th 
degree of longitude; then steered west; June 20, off the 
Bermudas, met five English vessels and fought them two 
hours without doiug ourselves much damage. In the dark- 
ness they disappeared; our escort would not let us follow 
them. We intended to anchor in the bay of the Chesapeake ; 
but July 4, when we were only thirteen leagues distant, 
we sighted eleven vessels which v/e took to be men-of-war ; 
this induced us to change our course and sail for Ehode 
Island, where we arrived safely on the evening of the 11th 
and anchored in the roadstead. It was not without strong 
fears of meeting the English fleet on our way from the 
Chesapeake here; which were well-founded, for Admiral 
Graves, despatched from England to iutercept and fight us if 
possible, reached New York on the 13th, shipped more 
sailors, and appeared before our roadstead on the 17th, Had 
he got here before us he would have occupied Ehode Island, 
and we could have entered it only after a fight in which we 
should certainly have lost our convoy, whatever gains we 
might otherwise have made. 

I can tell you nothing, my dear father, about our cam- 
paign, for I know nothing. We wish to join General Wash- 
ington, who is only 25 miles from New York, because we 



1780] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 25 

think that is the only means of operating and doing something. 
I do not know if this junction can be made. Meantime we 
are blockaded by twenty sail, ten of which are ships of the 
line. They come in daily very near the coast; it is said 
they will do nothing, and I believe it. We are expecting 
General Clinton at any moment ; he sailed from New York 
with 10,000 men ; we are ready to receive him, all disposi- 
tions are made; I hope he may come, but I can hardly 
believe he would commit such folly. 

Newpokt, September 8, 1780. 

No event since my last. We have not left our island ; 
we occupy it peacefully, and with the best order, in a very 
healthy camp, well placed and perfectly well trenched ; the 
works are not yet finished, but they are going on. The 
strictest discipline is maintained ; nothing is taken from the 
inhabitants except by their free will and for ready money ; 
we have not yet had a single complaint against the troops. 
Such discipline is admirable and astonishes the inhabitants, 
who are accustomed to the pillage of the English and even 
of their own troops. The greatest confidence and the best 
harmony are established between the two nations; if that 
could suffice for the success of our expedition we might feel 
sure of it. 

For the last four or five days we are no longer blockaded. 
We are expecting every moment news from Jamaica ; if that 
is taken I fear we shall not have much to do here. General 
Sir George Clinton, who commands in New York, is still in 
Long Island with twenty thousand men, where he has made 
a great provision of wood and commissariat supplies. He 
seems determined to pass the winter there. I fear much 
that we shall pass ours here ; I shall be consoled if we be- 
gin a campaign in the spring. Our army is in the best con- 



26 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

dition ; officers and soldiers, all are full of good-will, and 
ardour for the common cause. Erom time to time there are 
trifling squabbles, — that is inevitable ; but the order and 
discipline which reign are admirable, especially among the 
French troops. That proves that they only need a good 
leader. We have not yet begun to manoeuvre, but we shall 
begin in a few days. 

You know Frenchmen, my dear father, and what are 
called courtiers enough to judge of the despair of our young 
men of that class, who see themselves obliged to pass the 
winter tranquilly in Newport far from their mistresses and 
the pleasures of Paris; no suppers, no theatres, no balls; 
they are in despair ; nothing but an order to march on the 
enemy could console them. We have had excessive heat 
throughout the month of August ; I have never felt the like 
in Italy. Now the air is cooler ; the climate is superb, and 
the country charming. 

The general went upon the mainland a week ago. I was 
the only one of the aides-de-camp who accompanied him. 
We stayed two days and saw one of the finest regions in the 
world, — well-cultivated, situations charming, inhabitants 
prosperous, but without luxury or display ; they content 
themselves with mere necessaries, which, in other lands, is 
the lot of the lower classes ; their clothes are simple, but 
good, and their morals have not yet been spoiled by the 
luxury of Europeans. It is a country which will surely be 
very happy if it can enjoy a long peace, and if the two 
political parties which now divide it do not make it suffer 
the fate of Poland and so many other republics. These two 
parties are called " Whig " and " Tory : " the first is wholly 
for freedom and independence ; it is composed of men of low 
extraction who own no property ; the greater part of the in- 
habitants of the country belong to it. The " Tories " are for 



1780] COUNT AXEL FERSEN, 27 

the English, or, to be more correct, for peace, without caring 
much about freedom or independence. These are persons of 
a more distinguished class, the only ones who own property 
in America ; some have relatives and property in England ; 
others, to preserve what they have in this country, take the 
English side, which is the stronger. When the Wliigs are 
the stronger they pillage the others as much as they can. 
That excites between them a hatred and animosity which 
can be extinguished only with much difficulty, and will 
always be the germ of great trouble. 

Newport, September 14, 1780. 

I have no news that is very interesting or very good for us 
to send you. There is some that is very grievous to us : the 
defeat of General Gates by Lord Cornwallis in South Caro- 
lina on the 10th of August. The American general had 
advanced imprudently; he was attacked; half his troops 
were killed, the other half captured; he himself escaped 
with one aide-de-camp. As yet we have no details of the 
affair. M. de Eochambeau received the news by express the 
day before yesterday, but he has not yet made the matter 
public ; he does not speak of it ; yet all the town knows it. 
An American, with whom I talked this morning, told me he 
had seen a letter written to a member of the council, in 
which the writer said that the militia under General Gates 
all went over to the English at the beginning of the action. 
If that is true, what reliance can be placed on such troops ? 
a brave man is much to be pitied for having to command 
them. 

This, my dear father, is our present situation ; it is not gay ; 
we must hope it will change before the arrival of our second 
division, which we are expecting with the greatest impatience 
The garrison of Newport is becoming very melancholy. 



28 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

Newport, October 16, 1780. 

This is the first safe opportunity I have had for a long 
time to write to you, my dear father. I am certain this 
letter will reach you, and without being read ; it goes by a 
frigate that M. de Eochambeau is sending to Europe. The 
Due de Lauzun sends one of his servants in it, who promises 
to deliver my letter to Count Creutz, to whom I write by the 
same opportunity. An officer is to be sent to France in this 
frigate to give an account of the state and situation of the 
army and of our dear allies, both of which are bad enough. 
We do not know who will be charged with this commission; 
every one names me ; several of the general officers, M. de 
Chastellux and the Baron de Viomesnil have spoken of me 
as one who could carry out the intentions of the general in 
this respect. I do not know what will be the result ; I shall 
take no steps to obtain the appointment, neither should I 
refuse it if the general were to offer it to me. Nevertheless, 
I would much rather not be selected for this service. 
Something interesting might happen during my absence, and 
I should be in despair at having missed it. 

Our position here is very disagreeable. We vegetate at 
the gate of the enemy, in the saddest and most dreadful idle- 
ness and inactivity ; we are compelled to take, owing to our 
small numbers, the wearisome role of the defensive ; we are 
of no use whatever to our allies ; we cannot quit our island 
without exposing our fleet to be taken or destroyed ; in fact, 
our fleet could not get out without delivering us up to the 
enemy, who, vastly superior in vessels and men, would not 
fail to attack us and cut off our retreat to the continent. 
English vessels, more or less large, continue to reconnoitre 
us closely ; we dare not attack them, for they have other ves- 
sels stationed at Gardner's Island, twenty miles to the south- 
west, and we can nearly always count fifteen or twenty sail 



1780] COUNT AXEL FEKSEN. 29 

of the English fleet in the offing. So long as we are not the 
stronger of the two we shall be obliged to stay where we are, 
unless we decide to send away the fleet and abandon Ehode 
Island to the English. The one would follow the other. 

Far from being useful to the Americans we are only a 
burden upon them; we do not reinforce their army, for we 
are twelve days' march away from it, and separated by arms 
of the sea which cannot be crossed in winter on account of 
the drifting ice. We are even an expense to them, because, 
in consuming so much we make provisions scarce, and by 
paying ready money we bring down the value of paper and 
thus deprive the army of General Washington of its facilities 
for subsistence, which the dealers now refuse to sell for 
paper money. Our condition as to money is not any better 
than our military position. We brought with us two million 
six hundred thousand francs, half of which is in ready 
money, and the remainder is in letters of exchange on a 
banker in Philadelphia, M. Holcher. We ought to have 
brought the double of this. This want of specie, in a nation 
where one always needs to have money in hand, forces us to 
great economy ; whereas what is needed is magnificence and 
profusion. This ruins our credit. The forage department 
has been neglected and left in the hands of a commissary, 
who relied on the contractors ; the latter did not view the 
matter in a military way ; they consulted their own interests 
solely, and instead of storing the forage of the island and for 
thirty or forty miles round it, which is easy to transport, they 
used that first, and kept the more distant supplies for winter. 
God knows how we shall get them ; we have twice been two 
days without forage, obliged, each of us, to buy it where 
we could. 

The generals are not agreed among themselves. The 
whole army is discouraged at staying here so long with noth- 



30 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

ing to do. The second division has not arrived ; without it 
we can do nothing, or at least not much. M. de Eocham- 
beau has sent a report of his condition to France with a re- 
quest for the increase of his forces, both in men and money. 
We shall see what will be the result. 

I went with M. de Eochambeau, about two weeks ago, to 
Hartford, which is forty leagues from here. We were six in 
party : the general, the admiral, the chief of the engineers, 
the Vicomte de Eochambeau the (general's son), and two aides- 
de-camp, of whom I was one. An interview was to take 
place with General Washington. M. de Eochambeau sent 
me in advance to announce his arrival, and I had time to 
see that illustrious, not to say unique, man of our era. His 
noble and majestic, but at the same time gentle and honest 
face agrees perfectly with his moral qualities ; he has the air 
of a hero; he is very cold, speaks little, but is polite and 
civil. An air of sadness pervades his whole countenance, 
which is not unbecoming to him, and makes him the more 
interesting. His suite was more numerous than ours : the 
Marquis de Lafayette, General Knox, chief of artillery, M. 
de Gouvion, a Frenchman, chief of engineers, and six aides- 
de-camp in attendance. He had, besides, an escort of twenty 
dragoons ; which was necessary, for he had to cross a region 
full of the enemy, and as there are no post-houses in this 
country one is obliged to travel with one's own horses, and 
nearly always on horseback on account of the bad roads. 
However, on this occasion, all were in carriages, except the 
two aides-de-camp. It took us three days to reach Hartford ; 
General Washington the same. On the way we heard of the 
arrival of Eodney's fleet at New York, but we continued our 
journey. The two generals and the admiral were shut up 
together during the whole day we stayed at Hartford. The 
Marquis de Lafayette was called in as interpreter, for Gen- 



1780] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 31 

eral Washington can neither speak French nor understand 
it. They separated very well pleased with one another ; at 
least they said so. 

It was on his way back from there that General Washing- 
ton heard of General Arnold's treachery. The latter was 
one of his best generals ; he had two balls through his body 
and his conduct was always excellent. General Clinton had 
bribed him ; he agreed to deliver up West Point, where he 
commanded. Major Andrd, chief aide-de-camp to General 
Clinton, went to West Point, disguised as a coimtryman, to 
examine the fortifications, and agree as to the manner of 
attacking and the way by which General Arnold should 
retreat in order to cause no suspicion. A frigate was waiting 
for the aide-de-camp in the Hudson Eiver, and a boat was to 
be at a spot agreed upon. After arranging everything with 
General Arnold, Major Andr^ went to take the boat, but 
could not find it. The frigate had been obliged to change 
her position as the guns of West Point fired upon her. She 
was now lying five miles farther down the river. Major 
Andr^, ignorant of this, fancied he could reach New York 
by land. He was arrested by a party of countrymen, who 
were patrolling that region very carefully, on account of the 
passing of General Washington. He (Andre) showed his 
passport, given him by General Arnold; they doubted its 
authenticity and, in spite of all the oifers he made to them, 
they took him to the army. 

At this same moment General Washington arrived at 
West Point from Hartford. He sent his aides-de-camp to 
General Arnold to say that he would dine with him, and 
meantime was going himself to inspect the forts. The aides- 
de-camp found Arnold at breakfast with his wife. A mo- 
ment after they were seated some one came and whispered 
into the general's ear ; on which he rose, said a word in 



32 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

a low voice to his wife, and went out. The words were, 
" Good-bye forever." The wife fainted. The aides-de-camp 
succoured her without knowing what was the matter ; 
but a few moments later a courier arrived with the news 
for General Washington. They pursued the traitor, but it 
was then too late. If the English had succeeded in seizing 
West Point they would have been masters of the whole Hud- 
son Kiver ; they could have prevented all communication and 
junction of our forces with those of the Americans (unless 
by a very great detour) and Washington, who is camped at 
Orange-town, between West Point and New York, would 
have been between two fires and certainly destroyed before 
we could get to his assistance. It might, perhaps, have been 
all over for America, and we, ourselves, would have had the 
shame of coming here to be mere spectators of the ruia of 
our allies. Our own position would have been no better, for 
the English, no longer fearing the Americans, would have 
turned all their forces against us, and we are not strong 
enough to resist them. Happily, the thiag failed. They say 
that Major Andrd has been hanged. That is a pity ; he was 
a young man twenty-four years of age, with great talent. 
The general has no news of this, and I hope it is false. 

I have already told you, my dear father, that I am particu- 
larly intimate with the Due de Lauzun. Opinions are di- 
vided about him. You will hear both good and harm ; the 
first is right, the second is wi-ong ; if people knew him, they 
would change their ideas and do justice to his heart. He 
has taken a friendship for me, and proposes, in the most 
courteous manner in the world, that I shall accept the place 
of colonel, commanding his legion, which is vacant ; and he 
wishes to cede the proprietorship to me a year hence, at 
which time he intends to retire from service. His legion 
has one thousand infantry and three hundred hussars, with a 



1780] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 33 

few small pieces of artillery. The proposal is too agreeable 
and too advantageous to me to be refused. The Due de 
Lauzun has written about it to the queen, who has much 
kindness for him ; she has a little for me also, and I have 
written to her; I hope that the frigate which brings back 
her answer will bring me also my brevet. Lauzun assures 
me there can be no difficulty. 

Newport, October 26, 1780. 
You have already heard of General Gates' defeat in the 
South. I wrote you about it. Congress has just recalled him 
to Philadelphia and has given the command of his corps to 
General Greene. He is suspected, because he was closely 
allied with Arnold. It seems that his defeat has had no 
further results. All is quiet. Two battalions of grenadiers 
and chasseurs, with detachments from other regiments, have 
just been embarked, to the number of four thousand, at New 
York for service in the South. A fleet has arrived at New 
York from Cork in Ireland, laden with provisions, of which 
they were beginning to be in great want. The same fleet 
brings four thousand recruits, both English and Hessians. 
What a war this is for the English ! — obliged to bring every- 
thing, even subsistence ! That Power must have great re- 
sources to be able to maintain the war so long. 

Newport, November 13, 1780. 

The frigate that carried our letters sailed on the 28 th 
of last month ; on the 27th we had seen a fleet of thirteen 
vessels of war, but not seeing them the next morning, and 
hearing that they had steered east, three of our frigates left 
port ; I do not know the destination of the two others. 

The affair of Arnold has had no results. Poor Major 
Andrd, a young man twenty-eight years of age, of the 
highest promise, a friend of General Clinton, has been 

3 



34 DIAEY AND CORKESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

hanged. The sight touched the whole army ; and the two 
officers whom General Washington gave him as a guard of 
honour to attend his execution had not the strength to fol- 
low him. 

General Gates, of whose defeat you have read in the 
gazette, was recalled to Philadelphia; they say that Con- 
gress suspects him, because of his intimate relations with 
Arnold, and that this is the cause of his recall. The three 
States of New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts have 
just named General Washington dictator, with absolute 
power over military affairs. It is thought that the ten other 
States will do the same. This determination will give 
vigour to affairs, by changing their aspect and rousing the 
sluggish indolence of the Americans. Fourteen Spanish and 
nine French vessels have just captured in the neighbourhood 
of Madeira a convoy of fifty ships, coming partly from the 
Indies and partly from the Isles, and richly laden. 

Our war is not more active than it has been. There is talk 
of a little advantage gained by the Americans over the 
English ; the news is not sure, and I doubt it. Of the six 
thousand men embarked at New York (nearly all grena- 
diers and chasseurs), three thousand have already been 
landed in the Chesapeake Bay. It is said that General Clin- 
ton goes with the rest. This is undoubtedly an expedition to 
the South, either to seize North Carolina and Virginia or do 
them as much injury as possible. It will meet with little 
resistance. The American corps cCarmee stationed there is 
only four thousand strong, with a few militia who cannot be 
relied on. Half, or perhaps three-fourths, of the four thou- 
sand finish their time of service in January, which reduces 
that army to nothing. General Washington cannot quit the 
position he has taken without abandoning to the English the 
whole course of the Hudson Eiver and its adjacent territory ; 



1780] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 35 

and we, for want of sufficient means, cannot quit our island, 
where we are forced to stay like an oyster in its shell. The 
English will therefore have full liberty to act as they please 
in the South; they have a garrison of six thousand men in 
Charleston, from which they can reinforce their army, and 
one-half of the country is for them. Their position is a fine 
one, if they know how to profit by it , ours is disheartening 
if it does not change. 

M. de Eochambeau has just sent the Lauzun legion into 
quarters on the main land twenty-nine milesi from here. 
The lack of forage made this necessary. The Due de Lauzun 
treats me with the same friendship ; he talks to me inces- 
santly of my affair, and says how happy he shall be when 
he can hand over to me the proprietorship of his legion ; he 
wants no money for it, and when I spoke of it he replied : 
"I do not sell men — though I have bought them some- 
times ; besides, I pay myself in finding a man to whom I 
can leave my corps, whom 1 love as my children, with the 
confidence that I place in you." His manner in saying this 
was perfect and shows the man. The hope of the speedy 
success of this plan enchants me and makes me happy, 

Newport, December 7, 1780. 

You see, my dear father, that we are still in Newport ; 
we do not even think of leaving it. We are living tran- 
quilly in winter-quarters. Washington's army went into 
theirs two weeks ago. Admiral Eodney has returned to the 
Isles with his ten vessels ; we now have Arbuthnot here 
with seven ships of the line and three or four frigates. 
Affairs at the South are going well ; Colonel Ferguson has 
just been defeated by the Americans ; his corps of fourteen 
hundred men was almost destroyed ; this has obliged Lord 
Comwallis, who commands the English troops in that 



36 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

region, to retire to Charleston, with his corps of four thou- 
sand men, most of whom are dying of fatigue and disease. 
The English had sent Brigadier-general Leslie with twenty- 
five hundred men to join Cornwallis. By a letter from 
that officer to Lord Cornwallis, which was intercepted, we 
learn that he landed his troops at Portsmouth, Virginia, 
where he was awaiting orders for the junction. Apparently 
it will not be made, in view of the retreat of Cornwallis ; it 
is even said that Leslie is returning to New York. 

Before going into winter- quarters General Washington 
wished to make a descent on Staten Island ; he wanted to 
draw the attention of the English to that side while he 
made a forage around Kingsbridge ; but they were not mis- 
led by it ; all their posts on Staten Island had been 
strengthened, and he therefore abandoned the project. 
M. de Eochambeau has just made a little journey of six 
days on the mainland. I went with him; we were only 
three, and we did not see a fine country or pleasant 
people; they were, as a rule, lazy and selfish; how is it 
possible with those two qualities, to make them useful in 

war ? 

Newport, January 9, 1781. 

Nothing new as to our military operations, my dear father. 
It seems that we are all, on both sides, on the defensive, and 
it is very difficult to know who will begin the next campaign ; 
it will probably depend on the arrival of reinforcements from 
Europe : whoso receives the first will, it seems to me, profit 
by that advantage to attack the other. If the reinforcements 
which, they say, are intended for us in France, are really 
coming, we shall have, at any rate for a moment, the 
superiority at sea. That is the only means of operating and 
of ending a war both long and ruinous. As long as we are 
not masters of the sea we may prevent the English from 



1781] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 37 

penetrating into the interior, but nothing obliges them to 
leave the coast ; their commerce will continue to flourish, 
and will furnish them means of subsistence, which they 
would lack without it. So long as they are masters of 
Quebec, Halifax, New York, Charleston, and Jamaica, they 
will not make peace ; they will do so only when their com- 
merce is ruined and one or two of those places are captured. 
We missed the chance of taking Jamaica this year, and 
I do not believe it will ever come again. The reinforce- 
ments which, they say, are preparing for us in France are 
eight ships of war, — one of one hundred and ten guns, three 
of eighty guns, three of seventy guns, and one of sixty-four 
guns. We do not know the number of troops. This news 
reached us by a merchant ship which came from Nantes to 
Boston in thirty-eight days. Since we have been here we 
have had no letters. Such forgetfulness of the minister, or 
the ministry, is unpardonable. 

The campaign in the South seems more active than ours 
at the North. ... It is said that Cornwallis's army is sur- 
rounded at Camden ; that it suffers much from sickness and 
from hunger, being now reduced to eat its horses ; this 
rumour needs confirmation. That of the embarkation of 
twenty-five hundred men from New York for the South is 
more certain. Their destination seems to be to join another 
corps of the same size off Cape Fear, march from there to 
Camden, relieve Cornwallis if he is hemmed in, join him, 
and begin operations. If this junction is effected, and it 
can scarcely fail, the South is lost ; the Americans have 
no army there; the one they had was destroyed under 
General G-ates, the little that remains of it does not de- 
serve the name of army ; the men are without coats, shoes, 
or arms; there is nothing to oppose well-disciplined and 
veteran troops but raw militia, who are assembled only 



38 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

when danger is imminent, and who run away when it 
becomes great, i 

That is the state of affairs at the South ; ours are not 
much better. We are forced to be tranquil spectators of the 
loss of that part of America, and we cannot do otherwise. 
I have not yet travelled through the country ; many officers 
of the army have done so ; I await their return ; what they 
have seen and the mistakes they have made will be useful 
to me ; I await the month of March. 

The different States of America have passed a resolution 
to raise an army of twenty thousand men for three years ; 
the assessment to each State has been made, and minds are 
again excited. They hope to get the new recruits by 
March 1. I desire it, but I am not convinced it will be 
done. Some will be enlisted for three years, others for the 
whole war ; but neither will serve for nothing ; and it will 
be by very large pledges only that they will succeed in fill- 
ing up the regiments. Money is scarce ; in fact, there is 
none ; the taxes do not suffice ; no credit, no resources. 
This is the moment when we might be of some use to them, 
and redeem our idle and useless campaign by furnishing the 
money and clothes of which they are in need ; but we our- 
selves are in danger of needing both if no supplies are sent 
from France, and of being reduced to the mortifying ex- 
pedient of paying our troops with paper money. 

You see, my dear father, from this statement, which is 
strictly correct, the reasons which prevent the formation of 
an army, which can only be raised and maintained by force 
of money. Add to this that the spirit of patriotism exists 
only in the leaders and priucipal people of the country, who 
are making the greatest sacrifices ; the others, who form the 
greater number, think solely of their personal interests. 
Money is the prime mover of all their actions ; they think 



1781] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 39 

only of means to gain it; each is for himself, and none 
are for the public good. The inhabitants along the coast, 
even the best Whigs, carry provisions of all kinds to 
the English fleet which is anchored in Gardner's Bay ; and 
that because the English pay them well. They fleece us 
pitilessly ; the price of everything is exorbitant ; in all the 
dealings that we have with them they treat us more like 
enemies than friends. Their cupidity is unequalled ; money 
is their god ; virtue, honour, seem nothing to them compared 
to the precious metal. I do not mean that there are no 
estimable people whose character is equally noble and 
generous, — there are many ; but I speak of the nation in 
general ; I think it is derived more from the Dutch than 
from the English. 

That, my dear father, is my opinion on this country, on its 
inhabitants, and on this war ; it conforms to that of persons 
who are more enlightened and in a better position to see and 
to judge than I am. With more troops, ships, and much 
money, all may be changed ; but if the government does not 
send us enough of the latter article for our needs and that 
of our allies, nothing is repaired, and the French ministry 
will have crowned its folly. 

We have just received some very sad news ; that of the 
desertion of the Pennsylvania " line " — that is what they call 
the twenty-five hundred men raised in that State ; they went 
over to the English because of their discontent at lacking 
everything. They had neither coats nor shoes; and they 
were left without food for four days. There is a rumour that 
on the way they thought better of it and returned to their 
duty, sending six sergeants to negotiate with Congress the 
terms on which they were willing to do their duty ; this last 
rumour lacks confirmation. However it may be, this deser- 
tion sets a very dangerous example; it proves how little 



40 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

reliance can be placed on such troops. We have no fresh 
news from the South, and are ignorant of what is going on 
there. 

Newport, January 14, 1781. 

We have received details of two little affairs at the South 
in which the Americans had the advantage. It was only 
the repulse of small detachments. The Pennsylvania " line " 
did not go over to the English ; it has taken up a very strong 
position at Morristown. All has been done in the greatest 
order. Sergeants are the leaders ; they have no officers. They 
keep guard perfectly ; they send about the country to get the 
supplies they want, giving receipts, which they say that 
Congress will pay. General Clinton sent two spies to them 
with a letter in which he offered to give them the fourteen 
months' pay now due to them, a present of money besides, 
also new clothes, and pay them in future the same that the 
English soldiers receive. He promised to keep them a corps 
apart in the British army, commanded by their own officers ; 
and to their leaders he promised ranks and considerable 
rewards. In spite of all these promises they arrested his 
spies and hanged them. Congress has just sent three of its 
members to treat with them, and they have appointed six of 
their sergeants charged with powers to negotiate. They 
demand the fourteen months' pay which is due to them, with 
clothes and their future subsistence. These demands will 
certainly be granted ; but the difficulty is to find the money ; 
it can only be found with difficulty. This is the moment 
when we ought to furnish it and secure to the Americans all 
that is needed to suppress this mutiny ; but we have nothing, 
and unless we receive immediate succour from France we 
shall not have enough a month hence to pay our own army. 

There is a coolness between General Washington and 
M. de Eochambeau; the displeasure is on the side of the 



1781] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 41 

American general ; ours is ignorant of the cause of it. He 
has charged me with a letter to take to General Washington ; 
I am also to inform myself as to the causes of this dis- 
pleasure, and remove them if possible ; or, if the matter is 
more serious, to send him an immediate report. So you see, 
my dear father, I am entering diplomacy ; it is my first at- 
tempt, and I shall try to come well out of it. 

Newport, April 3, 1781. 

It is impossible to judge of the campaign we are about to 
make here ; I cannot even form a plan without first seeing 
the turn that affairs are likely to take after it. The war 
cannot be a long one, — not more than one, or two campaigns 
at the most. I even think that if the present one is vigorous, 
as it seems likely to be, it will be the last. This country is 
not in a state to support a long war. It is ruined; no 
money, no' men ; if France does not succour it vigorously, it 
must make peace. Up to the present moment we have not 
made great efforts. Here we are for the last ten months a 
handful of men on this little island ; we have been of no use 
whatever ; the South has been devastated by the English ; 
we can take no troops there on account of our small number, 
and if the English conduct themselves well the whole South 
will be captured ; discouragement will be the result of such 
a loss, and peace is a sure consequence. 

We are now expecting news from that region ; Lord Corn- 
wallis, who commands the English troops there, having 
made an imprudent advance, was obliged to retreat. It is 
said that he had taken a very favourable position, but that 
he is surrounded by the militia of the region, and that, 
according to all appearance, he may be furiously attacked, or 
mauled during his retreat. But it is now a whole month 
that we lack confirmation of this news, and I find it hard to 



42 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

believe it. The first news that^ reaches us will be very- 
interesting. 

I wrote you, my dear father, that Arnold had been sent to 
the bay of the Chesapeake to do all the damage he possibly 
could. He is there since the month of January. It was re- 
solved to send down a detachment and try to take him, by 
a combined operation with fifteen hundred Americans under 
the orders of M. de Lafayette. Seventeen hundred men 
were embarked in the fleet, under the command of the 
Baron de Viomesnil ; they started the 8th of March. I join 
to this letter a report of what took place, and of the fight 
there ; you will see that it was not to our disadvantage ; we 
say that we won it, but we did not win our object, for the 
English are where we ought to be, and we are forced to 
return here. Until now I had always believed that in war 
a detachment was not victorious unless it amply performed 
the purpose for which it was sent. Two of our vessels were 
so battered that when M. Destouches made the signal to 
renew the battle, those two vessels signalled that they were 
considerably disabled. Only four of the English vessels 
were closely engaged; the others fired from a distance. 
The number of our dead and wounded amounts to about 
three hundred; only two hundred are mentioned in the 
report. I have corrected the gross blunders in one of the 
copies which I send you ; if one tried to correct all it would 
have to be rewritten. 

Newport, April 11, 1781. 

In the South, the English, under Lord Cornwallis, have 
just won a very considerable advantage ^over General Greene, 
who commands the American army in those parts. We do 
not know what results may come from this advantage ; I 
believe, myself, there will be none, except that of rendering 
Cornwallis's retreat very safe. He advanced too far into the 



1781] COUNT AXEL FEKSEN. 43 

country, and supplies began to fail him. If he gets no 
other fruit than this victory it is still a great thing. I hear 
him taxed by every one with heedlessness and incapacity ; 
but I cannot bring myself to regard as a bad general a man 
who, up to the present moment, has always been successful, 
and who, having advanced too far into an enemy's country, 
surrounded, they say, on all sides, and certain of being taken, 
begins a retreat in face of the enemy, halts in a very advan- 
tageous position, beats the enemy, forces him to retire twenty 
miles from the battle-field, and procures by doing so an easy 
retreat. This war does honour to the English, although 
their generals behave badly in America. I fear the war 
will not be equally to our credit. 

It seems that our winter is quite over here : we are now 
enjoying the finest weather in the world; it is even very hot 
at times. 

Newport, May 13, 1781. 

Since my last, nothing has happened here. We are stOl 
tranquilly in Newport, the English in New York, and General 
Washington at New Windsor on the Hudson Eiver. God 
knows when we shall get out of this position ; it is very long 
since we got into it. The campaign at the South is ending ; 
summer is approaching, and at that season all military opera- 
tions are impossible without a very considerable loss of men 
from heat and malaria. As I have already told you. Lord 
Cornwallis advanced too far into the enemy's territory and 
was forced to retire. General Greene, with four thousand 
soldiers and as many more militia, harassed his retreat. 
Lord Cornwallis took up a good position, waited for General 
Greene, and fought him. All the militia, after the first dis- 
charge, gave way and went home ; not one of them stopped 
until he reached his own house. The rest were repulsed 
and forced back twelve miles. Lord Cornwallis then con- 



44 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OP [chap. ii. 

tinued his retreat to Camden, and thence, I suppose, to 
Charleston, where he will spend the hot season and renew 
the campaign in the autumn. 

We are making all our preparations to march ; every one 
is getting ready his equipments. I have already told you, 
my dear father, of what mine consist. My comrades have 
canteens — supply-boxes ; but I thought that expense very 
great and useless. Possibly I shall be less comfortable, but 
no matter, it involved too much expense. 

Newport, May 17, 1781. 
It is impossible to form any conjecture about the cam- 
paign on which we are entering ; nothing has transpired as 
to the news which our general has received from France, so 
that we do not know what reinforcements have been sent to 
us; some say 650, others 1500 men; others again declare 
that M. de Grasse, who went to the West India Islands with 
21 ships and 10,000 troops, will come here with part of them 
when the wet season renders all operations impossible in 
that region, that is to say, in the months of July and August. 
If that were so, we should at once begin the siege of New 
York, and we might reasonably hope for success. Without 
it the whole thing is a chimera and an impossibility, to which 
we have sacrificed much. If supports as considerable as 
those I speak of do not arrive we shall evacuate this island ; 
we shall establish our storehouses in Providence, where we 
have already sent part of our artillery and army waggons. 
We should then march along the North Eiver and approach 
New York to threaten it and prevent General Clinton from 
sending away detachments. This would give General Wash- 
ington the time to go into Virginia, drive out Arnold, and 
destroy the settlement that the English seem inclined to 
make there. Perhaps the Americans will remain before 



1781] COUNT AXEL PEESEN. 45 

'New York and we shall be charged with the expedition to 
Virginia ; I should prefer that. 

This was our general's plan of campaign before the arrival 
of the frigate which brought out the new admiral and de- 
spatches from Court. Since then I do not know what changes 
may have been made ; but I think that, unless M. de Grasse 
arrives, there will be none. There is to be a conference 
shortly between General Washington and M. de Eochambeau 
at the same place as that of last year, namely, Hartford, forty 
leagues from here. There they will probably decide on the 
plan of campaign. Provided it is active, and something is 
done, that is all I desire. "We have had too much inaction, 
mortifying inaction. It would have been more useful to 
America had we sent her the money we are costing the king 
here; the Americans would have employed it better. We 
ought to have had here an army of 15,000 men; only 5000 
were sent, who have been a year in garrison in Newport and 
of no use whatsoever, except to eat up provisions and make 
them dearer. I hope we shall soon get out of this sloth and 
be active. 

I say nothing to you about my own affair, my dear father ; 
since my last letter, in which I spoke of it, nothing new has 
taken place, or rather I have heard no news of it. I desire 
it much, for I begin to be tired of being with M. de Eocham- 
beau. He treats me with distinction, it is true, and I feel 
it ; but he is distrustful in a very disagreeable and sometimes 
insulting manner. He has more confidence in me than in 
my comrades, but even that is paltry; nor does he show 
more to his general officers, who are much displeased, and so 
are the superior officers of the army. They have, however, 
the good sense to conceal it, and to concur for the good of 
the cause. 

We push economy to such an extent that we have not 



46 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

even one spy in New York, because it would cost us perhaps 
fifty louis a month ; we prefer to receive news from General 
"Washington, and to leave to the Americans, who have no 
money to pay for news, the duty of obtaining it. The spies 
who are there do it from love of country. For this reason 
we get our information very late, and we shall end by having 
none at all, for men soon weary of doing gratis a business 
which leads to the gallows. 

We are preparing to march, but I do not know when we 
shall really do so. Part of the artillery munitions and the 
heavy baggage of the army are already stored in Providence. 
The general officers are now getting ready their own equip- 
ments. Our army is just as little disciplined as a French 
army usually is. Nevertheless the leaders are very severe : 
there is seldom a day when two or three officers are not 
under arrest; I have seen indecent scenes when a whole 
corps deserved to be cashiered, but we are only 5000 strong 
and we cannot spare a man. 

The fieet received orders yesterday to sail, and we supply 
500 men to complete the crews of the ships; they have 
scarcely any sailors left, so landsmen have to be supplied. 
This puts the colonels in very bad humour, and with reason ; 
it gives me pain, — 500 men less, when we have need of all 
our soldiers ! I think the squadron is going to meet the 
convoy which they say is on its way to us. 

Newport, June 3, 1781. 

At last we depart ; in eight or ten days the army will be 
on the march. This is the result of the conference between 
the two generals. Wliat the plan of campaign is and where 
we are going is a secret, and ought to be one. I hope we 
shall be in active service, and that they will not make us 
quit Newport only to put us in garrison in some other little 



1781] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 47 

town. Our fleet stays here, guarded by American militia 
and 400 of our own troops. I pity those who are selected 
for this detachment. The whole army is enchanted to 
depart. 

Nothing has happened in these parts since my last. The 
English are making progress in the South ; they burn or 
plunder everything ; but they spend money and that makes 
them friends ; before long the whole of that part of America 
will be conquered; then the English will recognize the 
independence of the Northern States, or at least, will treat 
them as independent, and will keep the South for them- 
selves. Imagine how glorious this will be for the arms of 
France ! What confirms me in this idea is that all things 
indicate the total evacuation of New York; they have al- 
ready sent away several detachments ; the last, within a few 
days, of twenty-five hundred men. Moreover, they are ship- 
ping a great many things at night, after taps, when the 
inhabitants of the town are not allowed to be out. If they 
totally evacuate New York to take their forces south, they 
do well. — I am obliged to finish. 

YOEKTOWN, October 23, 1781. 
As I have had no time to write you the slightest detail of 
the siege I annex here a little diary of our operations. They 
are over for this year, and we are going into winter-quarters 
in the neighbourhood ; headquarters will be at Williamsburg, 
a villanous little town that looks more like a village. 

Journal of Operations during the Siege and Surrender of 

Yorktown. 

After spending eleven months at Newport in total inac- 
tion, our army started from there June 12, 1781, leaving 
six hundred troops, and one thousand militia, under com- 



48 DIARY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

mand of M. de Choisy, brigadier-general, to defend the works 
we had made there, protect our little squadron of eight 
vessels, and cover our storehouses in Providence, where we 
had placed our siege artillery. The army went by water 
from Newport to Providence, and then marched by land to 
Philipsburg, fifteen miles from King's-Bridge, where it ar- 
rived July 6, and went into camp on the left of the Ameri- 
cans. The Lauzun legion had all along covered our left 
flank, marching eight or ten miles apart from us on the sea 
side. Our army was about five thousand strong ; that of the 
Americans three thousand. 

During our stay at Philipsburg we made several great 
forages and reconnoitrings about King's-Bridge. August 
14 we received news of the arrival of M. de Grasse. He left 
the Isles July 24. I was sent back to Newport to hasten the 
departure of the fleet and the embarkation of our artillery at 
Providence. On the 17th the army left Philipsburg and 
arrived on the 21st at King's-ferry, on the banks of the 
North, or Hudson, Eiver. It was four days in crossing ; on 
the 25 th we began our march ; two thousand Americans 
were with us; three thousand had been left to guard the 
defiles near Philipsburg. All things seemed to announce 
the siege of New York. The setting-up of a bakery and 
storehouses at Chatham, four miles from Staten Island ; our 
crossing of the North Eiver and the march we made to 
Morristown seemed to indicate that we intended to attack 
Sandy Hook, in order to facilitate the entrance of our vessels. 
We were not long, however, in perceiving that New York 
was not our object, but General Clinton was completely 
duped and that was what we wanted. 

We crossed Jersey, one of the finest and best cultivated 
provinces in America, and the army arrived at Philadelphia, 
September 3. It crossed the city on parade, and won the 



1781] COUNT AXEL FEKSEN. 49 

admiration of the inhabitants, who had never before seen so 
many men armed and clothed uniformly, and so well-disci- 
plined. After staying there two days, it marched for the 
head of Elk Eiver at the upper end of the Chesapeake Bay. 
On the 6th we heard that M, de Grasse had arrived in that 
bay on the 3d with twenty-eight vessels, and that three 
thousand troops under command of M. de Saint-Simon, 
brigadier-general, had disembarked and joined the eighteen 
hundred under the Marquis de Lafayette at Williamsburg. 
The march of the army was therefore hastened, and on the 
7th the whole army arrived at the head of Elk Eiver. It was 
there decided to embark the army; but the lack of boats, 
which the English had either taken or destroyed during the 
five months when they were masters of the bay, prevented 
us from shipping more than our grenadiers and chasseurs 
(eight himdred men) and seven hundred Americans. The 
rest, with the baggage and equipments, marched to Annapolis, 
and were there embarked on the frigates. The whole arrived 
and were in camp at Williamsburg about the 26th. Two 
days after M. de Grasse entered the Chesapeake he descried a 
large English fleet of twenty vessels. Admiral Hood with 
twelve ships had joined the eight of Admiral Graves. M. 
de Grasse at once went out with twenty-four vessels, leaving 
four to guard the New York and the James Eivers ; and after 
a fight, which was not very sharp, the English retired. M. 
de Barras with eight ships joined M. de Grasse, and on the 
8 th they were all in the bay. 

As soon as we reached Williamsburg, they went to work 
to land the field artillery and the equipments ; all was ready 
by the 28th [of September], and the army marched to invest 
Yorktown, where Lord Cornwallis was. He occupied York- 
town, which is on the right bank of the river, and Gloucester 
which is on the left bank. The river is one mile wide, that 



50 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

is to say, the third of a French league. We began our in- 
vestment the same day, but the Americans could not finish 
theirs till the day after. They had a marsh to cross ; the bridge 
was broken, and they were forced to make another. On the 
29th the investment was complete and we went to work to 
land our siege guns and make the quantity of fascines, sau- 
cissons [bundles of faggots], hurdles, and gabions necessary 
for the siege. On the 30 th the enemy evacuated their ad- 
vanced works and retreated within the body of the place. 
The works consisted of two large redoubts, and a battery of 
two cannon, which were separated from the town by a deep 
ravine of twelve hundred yards. We took possession; and 
this advanced our own work very much, leaving us the ability 
to put our first parallel on the other side of the ravine. 
Though that was a blunder made by Lord Cornwallis, it is, 
perhaps, excusable, because he had express orders from Gen- 
eral Clinton to retire within the place, and a promise that he 
(Clinton) would relieve him. 

October 6, at eight in the evening, we opened the trench 
at nine hundred yards from the works. The right rested on 
the river, the left on a great ravine which falls perpendicu- 
larly on the town to the right of the works, and thence to 
the river on the right of the town. Our trench had twenty- 
one hundred yards of development, and it was defended by 
four palisaded redoubts and five batteries. The ground, which 
is much intersected by little ravines, facilitated our approach 
and enabled us to reach our trench under cover without 
being obliged to make a branch way. On our right we 
opened another trench, resting its left on the river and its 
right on a wood. There we had a battery of four mortars, 
two howitzers, and two pieces of twenty-four which com- 
manded the river, making communication between Yorktown 
and G-loucester insecure and rendering the ships in the 



1781] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 51 

river very uneasy. The enemy did not fire much during 
the night. 

On the following days we worked at perfecting the trench, 
palisading the redoubts, and putting the batteries into con- 
dition. On the 10 th, they all fired during the day. We 
had forty-one guns, either cannon, mortars, or howitzers. 
Our artillery was marvellously well-served; the quality of 
the works, which were of sand, did not allow our cannon, 
though so well directed, to have all the effect they would have 
had on other ground ; but we learned by deserters that our 
bombs had great effect and that the number of dead and 
wounded was increasing. The besieged fired little; they 
had none but small cannon, — the largest was of eighteen ; 
their mortars were only of six or eight inches, while ours 
were of twelve. During the day we sent in many bombs and 
royal-grenades ; at night the enemy established flying bat- 
teries. In the daytime they usually withdrew their cannon 
and put them behind the parapet. 

On the night of the 11th and 12th the second parallel of 
360 yards was opened, the left resting, like the first, on 
the ravine, the right on a redoubt. We could not push the 
parallel to the river, on account of two redoubts belonging 
to the English, which were half a musket>-shot in advance of 
our right. It was resolved to attack them first and then 
finish the parallel. On the 14th, at eight o'clock in the even- 
ing, four hundred grenadiers and chasseurs, supported by one 
thousand men, attacked the redoubt and carried it sword in 
hand. There were one hundred and fifty men in it, half 
English, half Germans ; we took only thirty-four prisoners 
and three officers. The Americans carried the other re- 
doubt ; they worked all night to continue the trench, and by 
morning on the 15th it was well covered. The English 
plied us with bombs all night and the next day. 



52 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. n. 

On the l()th, our Latteries were finished, and they 
worked at monnting the guns. Next morning at five o'clock 
the enemy made a sortie of six hundred men, entered a hat- 
tery, and spiked four cannon. They were repulsed at once, 
and we had ahout twenty men killed and wounded. They 
made seventeen prisoners, of whom one was an officer. Our 
soldiers, who have been extremely tired since the beginning 
of the siege, were asleep and surprised. 

On the 17th, the enemy sent in a flag of truce, and Lord 
Cornwallis asked to capitulate. They were occupied the 
whole of the IStli in settling the articles; on the 19th the 
capitulation was signed and the troops laid down their arms. 
There were but ten cannon-balls and one bombshell left in 
the place. \Ve had in our second parallel six batteries and 
sixty cannon, which would have opened fire on the 17th, and 
on the 18 th or 19 th we hoped to be in a condition to 
assault. 

The legion of Lauzun, eight hundred troops, vessels, and 
one thousand militia were on the Gloucester side, to prevent 
any passing out in that direction. On the night of the 14th 
and 15 til Lord Cornwallis sent two thousand men to Glou- 
cester to force a way through for him, intending to march 
two hundred leagues through an enemy's country to reach 
[New ?] York. The enterprise was bold, but crazy ; it might 
have suceeodod with two hundred men. The only fault 
comu\itted by Lord Cornwallis was that of having stopped at 
Yorktown ; that fault, however, was not his, it was that of 
General Clinton, who ordered him to stay there, and he 
could only obey. 

AVe have taken seventy-six hundred men in Yorkto^\Ti, of 
whom two thousand are sick and four hundred wounded, 
four hundred fine dragoon horses, and one hundred and 
seventy-four cannon, seventy-four of them being of bronze. 



1781] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 53 

Most of these guns are small mortars of four to six inches. 
There are also some forty vessels, the greater part of which 
are sinking or damaged. There was one fifty-gun ship, 
which our left battery set on fire with red-hot shot and 
burned. 

Our army was composed of eight thousand men ; that of 
the Americans had about the same number ; in all, fifteen to 
sixteen thousand men. We had two hundred and seventy- 
four killed or wounded, and ten officers. 

YoRKTOWN, October 23, 1781. 

There is every appearance that we shall make our cam- 
paign of next year towards Charleston and end by besieging 
that place. The English will not fail now to send troops 
from New York to this part of America, so I think we 
may have an active war. It seems as if General Clin- 
ton would have nothing else to do. M. de Kochambeau 
has asked for reinforcements, and I think that M. de Grasse 
will return here from the Antilles with his twenty-eight 
ships. If they leave him in command he will bring troops 
with him. With his forces and ours united we shall be in 
a state to make a pretty campaign, and the taking of Savan- 
nah, where M. d'Estaing has failed, and that of Charleston, 
may well be the result of the campaign and crown the 
work we have now so well begun. 

I have no doubt they will send M. de Eochambeau the 
troops for which he asks. He knows too well how to use 
them, and has just done too great a service to have so just 
a demand refused at such a moment. I fear peace only, and 
I oJEfer prayers that it may not yet be made. 

All our young colonels belonging to the Erench Court are 
departing to spend their winter in Paris. Some will return ; 
others will stay there and will be much surprised if they are 



54 DIAEY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

not all made brigadier-generals after being at the siege of 
Yorktown ; they think they have done the finest thing in the 
world. I shall stay here, having no other reason to go to 
Paris than m}'- amusement and pleasure, and those I must 
sacrifice. My affairs can get on without me ; I should spend 
a great deal of money, and I ought to be careful of it. I 
prefer to employ it in making another campaign here and in 
achieving what I have begun. When I took the resolution 
to come here I foresaw the annoyances I should have to put 
up with ; it is fair that the instruction I have acquired should 
cost me something. 

WiLLiAMSBtTRG, March 25, 1782. 

The last letter I had the honour to write to you, my dear 
father, was dated March 4 from Philadelphia. I left there 
on the 9 th with the Chevalier de Luzerne, and we arrived 
here on the 17th. We made a charming journey and the 
cantines [provision boxes] he took with him, which were 
well furnished with pSt^s, hams, wine, and bread, prevented 
our feeling the misery that reigns in the inns, where nothing 
is found but salt pork and no bread. In Virginia the people 
eat nothing but cakes made of the flour of Indian corn, 
which they bake before the fire ; that hardens the outside a 
little, but the inside is only dough not cooked. They drink 
nothing but rum (a brandy made from sugar) mixed with 
water ; they call it " grog." The apples have failed this year, 
and that prevents them from having cider. At 250 miles 
from here, in a part of Virginia which they call " the moun- 
tains," all this is quite different. The country is richer, and 
it is there they cultivate tobacco ; the soil also produces wheat 
and all sorts of fruits. But in the part of the country near 
the sea, called " the plains," where we are, they grow nothing 
but Indian corn. 

The principal product of Virginia is tobacco ; not that this 



1782] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 55 

State, which is the largest of the thirteen, is not capable of 
other cultivation, but the laziness of the inhabitants and 
their conceit are great obstacles to industry. It really seems 
as if the Virginians were another race of men; instead of 
occupying themselves with their farms and making them 
profitable, each land-owner wants to be a lord. No white 
man ever works, but, as in the West India islands, all the 
work is done by negro slaves, who are ordered by the whites, 
and by overseers under them. 

There are, in Virginia, at least twenty negroes to one 
white man ; so that this State has sent but few soldiers to the 
army. All persons who do business are regarded as inferior 
by the others, who say they are not gentlemen, and they do 
not choose to live with them socially. These Virginians have 
all the aristocratic instincts, and when one sees them it is 
hard to understand how they came to enter a general con- 
federation and to accept a government founded on perfect 
equality of condition. But the same spirit which has led 
them to shake off the English yoke may lead them to other 
action of the same kind, and I should not be surprised to 
see Virginia detach herself, after the peace, from the other 
States. Neither should I be surprised to see the American 
government become a complete aristocracy. 

We have no political news here ; you know already of the 
taking of Saint-Christopher, — a fine possession which the 
English have just lost. There is much talk about the evacu- 
ation of Charleston. Thirty transports have arrived in New 
York to fetch the troops. Forty or fifty were there already, 
armed for the same service. Our politicians differ much as 
to the object of this evacuation ; some think it is to concen- 
trate all their forces at New York ; that seems to me little 
probable ; others that it is to send succour to Jamaica in case 
of need. Since the capture and total dispersion of M. de 



56 DIAEY AND CORKESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

Guichen's convoy the English might feel easy in that direc- 
tion, and I am more of the opinion of those who do not 
believe in the evacuation at all. What makes me doubt it 
is that General Clinton would never dare to take such a 
great step without orders from his Court, that such orders 
could only be the result of some plan of campaign, and that 
no plan, if made, has had time to get here. 

The taking of part of M. de Guichen's convoy is a terrible 
loss for us. Besides the munitions of war and the commis- 
sariat stores with which the ships were laden, and which can 
be replaced, we lose time which cannot be recovered, and the 
expedition to Jamaica will fail. Admiral Eodney has arrived 
in the West Indies with ten sail of the line and troops. This 
makes him superior to M. de Grasse, and may change the 
whole face of things in that part of the world. 

"WiLLiAMSBUEG, May 27, 1782. 
We are in great consternation on the subject of a battle 
between the fleets in the West Indies. The first news we 
received said that we had won the advantage ; but yesterday 
we heard more through the English, that is to say, by a New 
York gazette, which reports that the "Yille de Paris," 110 
guns, on which was the Comte de Grasse, was taken, with 
six other vessels, and that we were totally defeated. This 
news seems certain, because of the particulars that accom- 
panied it. The ships taken are named, the number of killed 
and wounded on each ship is specified, and in short, it seems 
impossible that this should be news manufactured by a news- 
paper. We do not bear this reverse well; I see that we 
allow ourselves to be easHy depressed. One would think 
we were not much accustomed to success from the excessive 
joy we show when we have any, and the gloom into which 
we are plunged by the slightest reverse. This reverse, how- 




._j/^^e<;^-z,&</'^^ZyC^ LZy^(:?^^>:^>t'&^ ^?5S:J^ K.^yzic^-c^/it^ 



^^^l^^>^1>^■yty~<^ci:>^■K^ 



1782] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 57 

ever, is considerable, and will render the whole campaign 
nuU; it gives the English the upper hand in the West 
Indies ; if they act well they can do us great damage there, 
and reinforcements from Europe, if they get them, may cause 
us to lose our conquests. This disaster wUl have a great 
effect upon us here, and will force us to pass this whole cam- 
paign in total inactivity. This is dreadful, — especially if we 
are unfortunate enough to stay in this place. The heat is al- 
ready extreme ; imagine what it will be in July and August. 
We have no news as yet from M. de Lauzun ; we expect 
some with great impatience, — at least I do, and we are be- 
ginning to feel uneasy. 

Philadelphia, August 8, 1782. 

The last letter I had the honour to write to you, my dear 
father, was dated July 6, also from Philadelphia. I came here 
with M. de Eochambeau, who had a rendezvous here with 
General Washington to confer together on the operation of the 
campaign. The result of the conference was that I was sent 
on the 19 th to Yorktown, Virginia, with a commission then 
secret, but not so at present : it was to ship as soon as pos- 
sible our siege artillery, which we had left at West-Point, 
eight leagues above Yorktown on the same river, and bring 
it up the bay of the Chesapeake to Baltimore. This opera- 
tion required great secrecy and much promptitude, for we had 
but one forty-gun ship to escort the convoy, and the English 
with, two frigates could have kept us from leaving the York 
Eiver, or else have captured some of the convoy. 

I started ill with a very bad cold, which was considerably 
increased by fatigue and the heat. As soon as I had at- 
tended to the embarkation and seen that all was under way, 
I returned to report to M. de Eochambeau, who was with 
the army at Baltimore, and after remaining with him a 
couple of days I started with the Chevalier de Chastellux for 



58 DIAEY AND COERESPONDENCE OF Cchap. ii. 

Philadelpliia, where the Chevalier de la Luzerne loaded me 
with care, attentions, kindness, civilities, and friendship. 
The army is to leave Baltimore on the 15 th to come here, 
and go hence to the Hudson Kiver. I shall wait here till it 
arrives ; I have need of rest, and I could not be in any house 
where I should be more agreeably and better situated. 

Our campaign this year will not be as brilliant as that of 
last year. The defeat of the Comte de Grasse, the disper- 
sion of M. de Guichen's convoy, the taking of that intended 
for the Indies — all these disasters united have deranged our 
plans and made all projects miscarry. We have nothing 
now to do in this country but the siege of New York, and 
we are too weak for such an enterprise, the success of which 
depends entirely on superiority at sea, and that we have not 
got. Admiral Eodney has taken good care of that ; and be- 
sides, when we had it we did not know how to profit by it. 
We are daily expecting news from France. We are told they 
are preparing to lay siege to Gibraltar ; for up to the present 
time it has been nothing but a fruitless blockade. If the 
French are set on that difficult operation I fear that our cam- 
paign here will be very inactive, and will end in nothing but 
long and laborious marches. I doubt if they can succeed 
in taking Gibraltar, though I fear the Spaniards will jus- 
tify the witty saying of some one who replied to a friend 
who said it would be another siege of Troy, " Yes, but 
Spaniards are not Greeks." 

The heat is very great here; I bear it very well. The 
drouth has been extraordinary ; all the brooks are dry, and 
our army has the greatest difficulty in finding water, which 
is very necessary in such hot weather. 



1782] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 59 

Philadelphia, August 17, 1782. 

On tlie 8tli of this month the army was at Baltimore, a 
little town at the upper end of the bay of the Chesapeake. 
Thence it was to march on the 15th of the same month to 
the North, or Hudson, Eiver. But the rumour and appear- 
ances of peace which we have received from England by way 
of Kew York have delayed our march, and we shall not put 
ourselves in motion till the 20 th. This is the upshot 
of a deliberation that the generals had together. By this 
news from England (we have none as yet from France) it 
seems as though peace were near. England appears to be 
much inclined to it if France is modest in her demands. 
The Americans desire nothing else, now that the King of 
England has declared them independent, and I think that 
Holland does not find itself enough benefited to wish to con- 
tinue the war. 

The English seem to behave with less hostility in these 
regions ; they have forbidden all their partisans, called 
"tories" or "refugees," to make incursions or expeditions 
into the country without a permit signed by the commandant 
of the station. They have sent back from England all 
prisoners, without demands for their exchange. General 
Carleton, who commands in New York, has informed General 
Washington in a very polite letter, that the king, his master, 
has granted the independence of America ; that he has sent a 
man to Paris with full powers to negotiate ; and he proposes 
to General Washington to agree to an exchange of prisoners. 
All this seems to indicate peace ; we all think that, if it is 
not already signed, it certainly will be in the course of the 
winter, and that we shall embark in the spring.^ This idea 

1 John Adams, Eranklin, Jay, and Laurens signed a preliminary treaty 
of peace in Paris, November 30, 1782. The English evacuated Charleston, 
December 14. — Tk. 



60 DIAKY AND COREESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

causes universal joy; it gives me a pleasure I cannot ex- 
press ; the hope of seeing you again, my dear father, is one 
that I can only feel. 

Camp at Crompond ['?], October 3, 1782. 
The last letter I had the honour to write to you, my dear 
father, was written in August. Since then we have been al- 
ways on the march, and I have had no opportunity to send 
you a letter. The army has crossed the Delaware, also the 
North, or Hudson, Eiver, and we are now encamped ten miles 
from the latter, and twenty-four miles from the island of 
New York. There is every appearance that we shall finish 
our campaign here, and start from here for our winter- 
quarters ; no one yet knows where they will be, and I dare 
not tell you. 

Charleston is evacuated, they say; consequently the 
English have nothing left in the South of this continent. 
Their possessions are reduced now to Long Island, Staten 
Island, and the island of New York. There is much talk of 
the evacuation of the latter ; I do not believe it ; while Lord 
Eockingham lived it seems to have been determined on; 
now all is changed. Our generals believe it, but I am not 
of their opinion. I think they are sending 2000 English 
troops to the West Indies, and are leaving the Germans with 
the rest, 10,000 in all, in New York. If the evacuation 
takes place, we shaU have nothing to do but return to 
France. 

Though we have not seen the enemy, our campaign has 
been a very rough one. We suffered much from heat, and 
now the cold weather is making itself keenly felt. I bear 
these changes marvellously well, and I was never better in 
health. This year I have a tent and a straw mattress ; I am 
not very well off for covering, but a cloak supplements that. 



17821 COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 61 

Boston, November 30, 1782. 

The last letter I had the honour to write to you, my dear 
father, was dated November 3 from Hartford, where the 
army made a halt of eight days while the fleet of M. de 
Vaudreuil was being made ready. We started on the 4th 
and reached Providence on the 10th, where our stay was 
prolonged until the fleet was able to take us on board. I 
profited by this delay to go to Newport, which is only ten 
leagues from Providence, to see my friends there and bid 
them adieu. 

We left Providence on the 4th and arrived here on the 
6th ; we embarked at once. I am on the " Brave," 74 guns, 
with the Comte de Deux-Ponts, and our three first companies. 
The Chevalier d'Amblimont commands the ship ; he behaved 
very badly in the action of April 12 ; he ran away instead 
of obeying signals, and when M. de Bougainville hailed him, 
asking the reason of such extraordinary conduct, he replied 
that, " the fleet being lost, it was best to save one vessel for 
the king." He is amiable, very polite, and has a good ship ; 
I have good quarters and he keeps a good table. That is all 
I want ; I let him off as to bravery. 

It seems certain that we are going to the Cape, under 
command of Don Galvez; it must surely be to attempt an 
enterprise on Jamaica, when that on Gibraltar, which has 
lasted five years, succeeds or fails ; whether we make one on 
Jamaica will be decided before July, and it is probably on 
that decision that our return to Prance depends. A person 
worthy of confidence, who is in the way of knowing things, 
assures me that we shall not stay long in the West Indies, 
and that we shall surely be in France by next summer. 

We do not yet know if the English have evacuated 
Charleston. This must seem to you very extraordinary ; it 
is strange that having an army ten leagues distant from 



62 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

there we should still be uncertain as to an event so interest- 
ing to us. But the communications of this country are so 
slow and uncertain that we get our news for the most part 
from the " New York Gazette." An express makes, bravely, 
eight leagues a day, whereas it might make twelve or thir- 
teen ; but perhaps the fault is in the management. There is 
much talk of the evacuation of New York; they say the 
English themselves are talking about it ; I do not believe a 
word of it. The rendition of that place will make a useful 
balance in the treaty of peace. 

M. de Eochambeau left us at Providence ; the whole army 
regrets him, and with reason. He went to Philadelphia, 
where he embarked on the frigate " La Gloire." I gave him 
a letter like this one, which you may receive at the same 
time. This one goes by the frigate "Iris." Baron de 
Viomesnil now commands the army, and will take us to the 
West Indies ; there he leaves us as soon as we arrive, and 
returns to Erance. 

I wrote you in my last letter that the Due de Lauzun 
remains in America with his legion. I thought we should 
take away our siege train, but that is changed; it stays in 
Baltimore, where it now is, with 400 men detached from the 
different regiments, and about the same number of sick, who 
will be in good health by the spring. That makes in all 
1400 men under command of M. de Lauzun, who will prob- 
ably have nothing to do but to wait here till peace is made. 
The duke and his legion are in quarters at Wilmington, nine 
leagues to the south of Philadelphia. 

I cannot tell you, my dear father, how much attached I 
am to the Due de Lauzun, and how I like him; he has the 
noblest and most honourable soul that I know. Among the 
personal belongings which he brought, and which were all 
lost, there were several things for me that he knew I needed, 



1782] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 63 

and a part of which I had asked him to bring me. He has 
never been willing to tell me what they were, always reply- 
ing that it was only a trifle, not worth speaking of. I should 
never end if I told you all the delicate and kindly actions 
that I know of him. 

The whole army is vexed at going to the West Indies ; I 
myself am not much pleased. We saw M. de Eochambeau 
leave us with pain; every one liked to be commanded by 
him. They will have to feel the same to the Baron de 
Viomesnil. As for me, personally, I ought to be much satis- 
fied; the baron has always treated me with distixiguished 
regard and courtesy. He is hasty and quick-tempered ; he 
has not the precious sang-froid of M. de Eochambeau, who 
was the only man capable of commanding us here, and of 
maintaining that perfect harmony which has reigned between 
two nations so dififerent in manners, morals, and language, 
and who, at heart, do not like each other. There have never 
been disputes between our two armies during the whole 
time we have been together ; but there have often been just 
ground for complaints on our part. Our allies have not 
always behaved well to us, and the time that we have spent 
among them has not taught us to like or to esteem them. 
M. de Eochambeau himself has not always been well-treated ; 
but in spite of that his conduct has been uniform. His 
example has compelled the same in his army, and the stern 
orders that he gave restrained every one, and enforced that 
rare discipline which was the admiration of all the Ameri- 
cans and English who witnessed it. The wise, prudent, and 
simple conduct of M. de Eochambeau has done more to con- 
ciliate the Americans than the winning of four battles could 
ever have done. 

Our fleet at Boston consists of thirteen vessels ; here is the 
list. . . . They will sail as soon as the wind permits. The 



64 DIAKY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ii. 

English fleet of twenty-three sail has left New York in two 
divisions ; the first of twelve ships, under the orders of Ad- 
miral Pigott, departed October 27 ; the second of eleven 
ships, came out of the harbour on the 21st of this month, 
they say. Is it to await us and capture us, or is it to trans- 
port the garrison of Charleston to the West Indies ? We do 
not know ; but time will clear up the mystery. 

Boston, December 21, 1782. 

It is not yet known whether Charleston is evacuated; a 
Philadelphia gazette, which has just arrived, says that the 
English are constructing two new redoubts there, and that the 
truce they had demanded, and which was supposed to be a 
certain sign of the evacuation, has come to an end, and the 
place is not evacuated. 

We are all going on board to-night ; the ships are ready, 
and if the wind is fair we shall sail to-morrow morning. As 
soon as we reach the West India Islands I will send you 
news of myself, my dear father, and I shaU have the pleas- 
ure to assure you of my respectful attachment. 



1783] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 65 



CHAPTEE III. 

1783-1791. — Eeturn to France. — Confidential mission of Count Fersen to 
the French Court from King Gustavus III. — Letters to his father and 
the King of Sweden on the political aspects of France at the opening 
of the Eevolution. — Tlie Emigration begins in July 1789. 

[Count Fersen returned to France with the French troops 
in June, 1783. He was on the point of going to Sweden to 
see his parents when he received an order to join his king, 
Gustavus III., and accompany him during his journeys in 
Germany, Italy, and France. It was not until the close of 
the year 1784 that Count Fersen returned to Sweden in the 
suite of the king. As a well-deserved reward for his cam- 
paigns in America he was appointed titulary colonel in the 
Swedish army, chevalier of the Order of the Sword, and 
lieutenant-colonel on service of the light-horse cavalry of the 
king. The King of France appointed him second-colonel of 
the regiment Deux-Ponts and chevalier of the Order of Mili- 
tary Merit. In September, 1783, he was made proprietary 
colonel of the Eoyal-Swedish [French] regiment, at the 
request of King Gustavus III., who, during his stay in Paris, 
protected Fersen and enabled him to obtain from France a 
pension of twenty thousand francs, which was reduced to 
thirteen thousand in 1788, and ceased altogether in 1791. 

General Washington granted to Count Fersen in 1783 the 
Order of Cincinnatus. It was a flattering recognition of his 
services in that memorable war which has had such immense 
results. Though the King of Sweden would not allow him, 
or any of the Swedish officers who had fought in that war, to 
wear this decoration, it was still a great distinction to have 

5 



66 DIAKY AND COKRESPONDENCE OF [chap. in. 

deserved a military Order of which the generals of the armies 
of France were proud to bear the insignia, with permission 
of their sovereign. 

It was at this period — 1783 to 1786 — that young de 
Stael-Holstein began to be noted in the diplomatic corps and 
in the salons of the great world of Paris, and Count Fersen, 
who had been intimate with him from childhood, contributed 
much to make him so. M. de Stael, born in 1759, saw ser- 
vice early in life, was an ensign when eighteen, a lieutenant, 
then a captain at twenty-three. The court which he paid 
to Mile. Necker established his fortunes. Thanks to his 
known hopes of obtaining her hand, in which the queen 
and all the greatest ladies of her Court took an interest, M. 
de Stael was appointed in the same year (1783) charge 
d'affaires, envoy, and finally, ambassador from Sweden to the 
Court of Versailles. Count Fersen writes at this period to 
his father (August 19, 1784) : — 

" You will have seen already that the idea I had respect- 
ing Mile. Necker cannot come to anything, even if you con- 
sented to it, on account of my friend Stael, to whom it is 
perfectly suited, — much more so than to me. I really never 
thought of it, except to please you, my dear father ; and I 
am not at all sorry that it cannot be realized." 

We see from from this that Fersen had thought of Mile. 
Necker for himself, and renounced his pretensions in favour 
of his friend, who saw in this match a first step to fortune. 
M. de Stael was, however, compelled to wait a long time for 
the consent of her parents, for he had many rivals, among 
them the famous minister Mr. Pitt. Count Fersen writes 
to his father, October 15, 1785 : — 

" M. Necker has at last decided to give him his daughter ; 
it is an excellent affair and I am enchanted for M. de Stael ; 
he had numerous and powerful rivals, among others Mr. Pitt, 



1783] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 67 

the one who is at present at the head of English affairs ; but 
the young girl preferred M. de Stael. I saw her a few days 
ago. She is not pretty, — on the contrary ; but she has intel- 
lect, gaiety, amiability ; has been very well brought-up, and is 
full of talents. The wedding will take place on the 10th or 
15th of next month. 

An illness of Mile. IsTecker delayed the marriage until 
January 1786. It was concluded under very onerous condi- 
tions for Sweden. King Gustavus III. agreed to give Stael an 
annual pension of 20,000 francs, or an office in Sweden equiv- 
alent to it in case he lost, through unforeseen circumstances 
his embassy to Versailles during the first six months after his 
marriage. Wlien the Eevolution broke out in France this 
agreement became very burdensome to the King of Sweden, 
inasmuch as Stael sided, thanks to the influence of his wife, 
with the enemies of the royal family, as we shall see 
in the course of these Letters. This obliged the King of 
Sweden to conceal his real opinions in his despatches to his 
ambassador to France, and it is important to know this, in 
order to judge correctly of the epoch and also of its docu- 
ments. Baron Taube, first gentleman of the Bed-chamber 
and confidential secretary of Gustavus III., wrote as follows, 
to his intimate friend Count Fersen : — 

"The king orders me to let you know that all Stael's 
despatches are written in the spirit of the Eevolution ; his 
Majesty is obliged to feign to pay attention to what he says 
to him ; but it is only that he may fathom their projects and 
their views more completely. The king orders you to 
warn the King and the Queen [of France], so that they may 
not be misled. Assure them that the king never varies in 
his feelings and his attachment for them, as he will try on all 
occasions to prove to them." 

Count Fersen's service in the two armies of Sweden and 



68 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. hi. 

France obliged him to divide his time between the two 
countries. During the summer of 1787 he was sent to 
France with letters from the King of Sweden to Louis XVI. 

" I passed a day in Paris," he writes, May 25, 1787, " to 
deliver the letters with which I was laden and to see my 
friends, and the next day I came to Versailles to pay my 
court and give the letters to the king. It was the day of 
the closing of the Assembly of the Notables, and I am very 
glad to have seen that ceremony. It was very imposing, 
and will probably never be seen again in our day. The 
results of that Assembly are great reforms in the households 
of the princes ; but most of them bear only on abuses and on 
the old ostentatious splendour, which is scarcely noticed and 
was of no use whatever except to absorb enormous sums. 
The Comte d'Artois has already returned four hundred 
thousand francs from his household to the king. The re- 
form in the queen's stable amounts to two hundred and fifty 
thousand francs ; in short, it seems that they have taken a 
firm resolution to correct abuses as much as possible. The 
king has already reduced his packs of boar-hounds and wolf- 
hounds; all the falcons, and the emoluments of the grand 
falconer are to be suppressed, so they tell me. There is 
much else, but I cannot remember it. They talk of a dimi- 
nution of two-fifths of all pensions above ten thousand francs ; 
but that is not certain." 

In October, 1788, Gustavus III. sent Count Fersen again to 
Paris to look after his interests and correspond with him confi- 
dentially. From that time the Count remained in France, 
sometimes in Paris, sometimes with his regiment, the Eoyal- 
Swedish, which was in garrison at Valenciennes, Maubeuge, 
and other towns. The first rough shocks of the Eevolution 
were beginning to be felt, and Count Fersen bestowed much 
attention on the study of them. The loss of his Journal 



1788] COUNT AXEL FERSEN". 69 

from 1780 to June, 1791, was a great misfortmie. Intrusted 
to a friend at the time that he was obliged to leave Paris 
when Louis XVI. and family started for Varennes, these 
sheets were burned, from the fear that they might fall into 
the hands of the revolutionaries. They contained, as Fersen 
himself said, precious information of the events of the time, 
and the family of Louis XVI. Nothing relating to that time 
now remains but letters, written by the count to his father, 
which contain some account of the political events in France 
at the beginning of the Eevolution.] 

Paris, December 10, 1788. 
Affairs in this country are not in a more tranquil state 
than they are in Sweden ; on the contrary, minds are furi- 
ously excited ; but with what a difference ! Here we have a 
patient with a good constitution and in all the vigour of his 
age, for whom we need only a good physician ; but the ques- 
tion is to find one. There appears to be a great schism be- 
tween the nobles and the tiers etat ; the latter wants to be 
represented in greater numbers and to have more influence 
in the States-general than it has hitherto had. The parlia- 
ments, which used to be united with the nobles, have been 
abandoned by them in consequence of a late decree of the 
parliament of Paris [abolishing feudal rights], which de- 
mands no less 'than the English constitution. There were 
two parties in the Chamber on that occasion ; all the old 
members were against the resolution, but the young ones 
carried it. They say also that the provincial parliaments 
are not all of one opinion, and that several are contrary to 
the decree of that of Paris. So here is disunion among the 
great bodies of the kingdom ; it remains to be seen what 
will result for the king. But in any case, it seems to me 
that things will go better than was thought at first, and that 



70 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. hi. 

France will recover in Europe the great influence that she 
ought to have there. The fermentation of minds is general ; 
nothing is talked of but the Constitution ; the women, espe- 
cially, are mixed up in the matter, and you know, as I do, the 
influence they have in this country. It is all a delirium ; 
every one is an administrator and talks of nothing but " prog- 
ress ; " in the antechambers the lacqueys are busy reading 
political pamphlets, ten or a dozen of which appear daily ; I 
do not see how the printing-offices suffice for them all ; they 
are the fashion of the moment, however, and you know, as I 
do, the empire that has here. 

We are having a very severe winter, freezing for three 
weeks ; the cold has been up to 13° and at midday 2°, 3°, and 
4°. For a week past there has been four inches of snow in 
the streets of Paris and the roofs are covered. The river is 
frozen, which hampers the provisioning of Paris, so that 
they fear a famine ; it is also feared in the provinces. There 
is very little wheat, and what there is they cannot grind be- 
cause of the lack of water, for there has been no rain since 
August. 

Paris, January 2, 1789. 
The country is still in a great ferment, but here great heats 
pass off in a short time and reflection comes. The grave 
question which divides all minds at the present moment 
is whether the deputies of the tiers Stat will equal in 
number those of the nobles and the clergy; opinions are 
much divided thereon, even among the nobles, the greater 
part of whom consent to this equality. The king has just 
decided that for one member of the nobles and one of the 
clergy there shall be two of the tiers Stat, which seems just. 
Meanwhile the public has been inundated with writings 
and pamphlets ; there is not a day that five or six do not 
appear; inost of them have no common-sense and contain 



1789] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 71 

nothing but empty words or thoughts that are wholly sedi- 
tious. Everybody is author and administrator, especially the 
women ; you know, as I do, how they give the tone here and 
how they like to mingle in everything. They are occupied 
now with nothing but "the Constitution," and the young 
men, to please them and to have an air of good style, talk 
only of States-general and systems of government, though 
often enough their waistcoats, their cabriolets, and their 
jackets make a diversion. I do not know whether the 
kingdom will gain by all these changes, but society has lost 
a great deal. 

Valenciennes [in camp], June 26, 1789. 

The tiers Hat wants to be alone in the States-general. 
The origin of the quarrel is that the tiers Hat claimed that 
the powers of the deputies ought to be verified in common 
in an assembly of the three orders ; whereas the nobles 
willed that, according to ancient custom each order should 
verify its powers separately. This dispute heated all 
brains ; part of the clergy joined the tiers Hat ; so did some 
of the nobles; and they have constituted themselves a 
National Assembly ; whereupon the king held a royal session 
at which he quashed the resolution of the tiers Hat. The 
National Assembly paid no attention to the king's action, but 
continued its sessions. The nobles have joined the king. 
The excitement is extreme. You know French heads, and 
you can easily imagine to what lengths they may go ; but 
never could you have conceived the indecency of all that is 
being done and written. The Archbishop of Paris, a man 
respectable for his age and conduct, came near being stoned 
at Versailles as he was entering his house, because he is not 
on the side of the tiers Hat. Several of his servants were 
wounded. Three or four madmen lead the whole thing, and 
God knows where it will end. The king seems decided to 



72 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. hi. 

hold to what he has said, and they have brought about 
12,000 to 15,000 troops into the neighbourhood of Versailles, 
La Muette, Meudon, etc. What is most grievous is that 
they are not sure of the French soldier, and they are forced 
to employ foreigners as much as possible. They have also 
brought up forty pieces of artillery. It is impossible to fore- 
see the end. 

Valenciennes, July 22, 1789. 

Heads are so heated that firmness is thought more in- 
jurious than useful. The Baron de Breteuil is no longer 
minister. M. de Broglie and de La Vauguyon, who were 
appointed with him, the first as minister of War, the second 
to Foreign Affairs have gone too ; the king has recalled M. 
Necker. The troops are sent back to their garrisons. The 
populace of Paris has seized the Bastille and has murdered 
the governor, M. de Launay, in a horrible manner. They 
have captured at the Invalides 36,000 muskets ; they have 
hanged M. de Flesselle, provost of the merchants ; all car- 
riages are stopped ; every one in Paris is made to go a-foot. 
The nobles are insulted. The Comte d'Artois and his chil- 
dren, the Princes de Cond^, Conti, and Bourbon, with many 
other persons, among them the Baron de Breteuil, have fled, 
under assumed names to protect themselves from the people. 
No one is allowed to leave Paris ; all is confusion, disorder, 
consternation. The assembly of the electors at the Hotel-de- 
Ville has little power, as the execution of M. de Toulon and 
Berthier plainly shows. 

At the present moment Paris is rather more tranquil, but 
not enough so to induce persons to remain in it. Every day 
great numbers of the inhabitants leave it, and by winter, 
unless quiet is restored, it will be deserted. The king has 
gone to Paris in the hope of producing calmness, but the 
effect has not been all that he expected. 



1789] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 73 

You will see in the " Journal de Paris " and other papers, 
the details of aK this, which are fairly correct; nothing 
is exaggerated, for it is not possible to exaggerate what has 
happened, and is still happening. Eiots are taking place in 
all the cities of the kingdom, but they seem to be only a 
parody of what is going on in Paris. So far all is confined 
to breaking into the tax offices and opening the prisons, for 
it is the lowest of the populace who make the disorder. The 
bourgeoisie was immediately armed and that did much to 
restore tranquillity. We have had our little riot here [Val- 
enciennes], but it is all over. Now, the idle scoundrels have 
spread themselves over the country districts; they are pil- 
laging, or putting under contribution all the abbeys and 
chateaux; they are hunted everywhere, and yesterday, in 
one spot, we captured one hundred and nineteen; many 
more will probably be taken. 

That, my dear father, is the sad news of this country ; it 
is in a state of violent crisis ; we must now see what the 
States-general will do; but at this moment all bonds are 
broken ; obedience has disappeared in the army, and I doubt 
if it will be as easy to restore things as it has been to over- 
throw them. 

Valenciennes, August 15, 1789. 
Disorder is increasing throughout the country, and God 
alone knows what will come of it. Paris is the focus of 
trouble, and nearly every one is in haste to leave it. Vaga- 
bonds and deserters are taking refuge there, and the number 
of the latter is very considerable. They are received into 
the new militia wliich is being raised under the command of 
the Marquis de Lafayette [the National Guard] ; they have 
better pay than in our regiments and there are no means 
not employed to entice them. It is said that according to 
the report of the regiments rendered to the war office, there 



74 DIAEY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. hi. 

have been, since July 13, 12,750 deserters, without counting 
the Gardes Frangaises. The king's authority is totally an- 
nihilated, so is that of the parliaments and the magistrates ; 
the States-general themselves tremble before Paris, and this 
fear greatly influences their deliberations. There are no 
longer in this kingdom either laws, order, justice, discipline, 
or religion ; all bonds are broken ; and how can they be re- 
established ? that is what I do not know, but these are the 
effects of the progress of the ideas of anglomania and philoso- 
phy ; France is ruined for a long time to come. 

Valenciknnes, September 3, 1789. 
All bonds are broken ; the king's authority is null ; the 
National Assembly itself trembles before Paris, and Paris 
trembles before forty to fifty thousand bandits or vagrants 
established at Montmartre or in the Palais-Eoyal, from which 
they cannot be driven. In the provinces the people are 
intoxicated with the idea, long spread by philosophers in 
their writings, that all men are equal; and, the abolition of 
feudal rights and others (voted so glibly by the Assembly in 
three hours time, after a supper) has persuaded them that 
they have nothing more to pay. Everywhere they are rush- 
ing into frightful excesses against the chateaux of the nobles, 
which they pillage and burn, with all their deeds and papers ; 
they even maltreat the owners if they find them there. You 
will see the details in the newspapers and there is nothing 
exaggerated in them. In all the towns the people have 
broken into the offices and driven away the clerks of the 
farms ; ^ in nearly all the provinces they refuse to pay. The 
taxes cannot be collected; the troops are won over, or se- 
duced by the hope of liberty, or money. The king will soon 

1 The farms, fermes, it will be remembered, meant tinder the old mon- 
archy the farming out of the public revenues to " farmers-general," who 
levied them for the royal treasury at a profit to themselves. — Tb. 



1789] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 75 

be unable to meet his engagements, and bankruptcy is immi- 
nent. The nobles are in despair ; the clergy are, as it were, 
struck demented, and the tiers etat is wholly dissatisfied : 
it is the canaille who reign, and are satisfied because, having 
nothing to lose, they can only gain. No one dares to com- 
mand, and no one is willing to obey. 

Such is the liberty of France, and the state in which she 
is at this moment. One shudders at seeing what is going on, 
and it is impossible to foresee how these things will end. All 
this makes me very unhappy. I share with you, my dear 
father, the attachment you feel for France, and I cannot see 
its ruin without the keenest sorrow. Many regiments have 
mutinied ; some have even laid hands on their chief officers. 
In our regiment things have not gone so far as yet, but for 
three days the soldiers forced the gates of the quarters and 
of the town, and went to drink in the country, where they 
committed very horrible excesses. On the third day they 
would certainly have pillaged and fired the town if the 
generale had not been beaten [call to all citizens to assemble]. 
Aided by the bourgeois militia, we have now re-established 
order and quiet. 

The extraordinary part is that the same thing has hap- 
pened in nearly all the garrisons, and that throughout the 
kingdom the mutinies have all been alike. Secret agents 
distribute money ; these men are known nearly everywhere ; 
the leaders of the seditions, tried and hanged, have de- 
nounced them; but whether it be weakness, or fear, or 
complicity, or the absence of laws or the lack of means to 
enforce those that still exist, — certain it is that the magis- 
trates dare not take steps ; nothing is done against these men, 
and they are left in peace to stir up anarchy, mutiny, license, 
and to work for the ruin of the State. The Due d'Orldans 
[great-grandson of the Eegent, who presently took the name of 



76 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. hi. 

Philippe Egalitd] is strongly suspected of being the leader 
and motive-power of all this. 

If I were writing from Paris I should not dare to tell you 
these things ; the epistolary inquisition has been very close ; 
the letters of the king and queen have not escaped it. I 
think it has ceased at present ; but it is more prudent not to 
trust to this. When you write to me, my dear father, you 
can freely say what you please ; coming from you it can 
only do good ; but you must be kind enough not to refer 
to what I have written to you on this subject. 

Paris, October 9, 1789. 

All the public papers have told you, my dear father, of 
what happened at Versailles on Monday, 5th, and Tuesday, 
6th, and of the coming of the king to Paris with his family. 
I was witness of it all and I returned to Paris in one of the 
carriages of the king's suite ; we were six hours and a half on 
the way. God keep me from ever again seeing so afflicting 
a sight as that of those two days. 

The people seem enchanted to see the king and his family ; 
the queen is much applauded, and she cannot fail to be 
when they know her, and do justice to her desire for the 
right, and to the kindness of her heart. The States-general 
are to come to Paris and begin their sessions ; I do not yet 
know on what day. 

[Towards the close of the year 1789 Count Fersen rejoined 
his regiment, still at Valenciennes. He pacified a sedition 
which had just broken out, and punished the leaders of it. 
He then received orders from King Gustavus III. to return 
to Paris and remain there near the King of France, to convey 
to him letters, to explain to him the sentiments of the king, 
his own master, and to facilitate to the utmost of his power 



1790] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 77 

commmiicatioii between the two sovereigns, as will be seen 
by the following letter : — ] 

To His Majesty, the King of Sweden. 

Aix-la-Chapelle, January 7, 1790. 

SiEE, — I received last night at eleven o'clock the letter 
which Y. M., deigned to do me the honour to write to me 
by Baron d'Ugglas, Nothing could flatter me more than 
the expressions and assurance it contained ; they will 
always be precious to me and I have been deeply touched 
by them. . . . 

To fulfil the intention of Y. M., I think it would be better 
not to hasten my return to Paris ; it might give rise to con- 
jectures at a time when all actions, even the simplest, are 
watched and interpreted. Baron Taube is of my opinion; 
it will be, after all, a delay of only ten days ; I shall be in 
Paris on the 17th or 18th. 

The details into which Y. M. has entered as to the affairs 
of Sweden and France are a new proof of kindness by 
which I am deeply touched. The affairs of France are dis- 
tressing, and Y. M. has seized them from the right point of 
view. I believe, as you do, that M. Necker is very guilty, 
and that nothing but a civil or a foreign war can restore 
France and the royal authority ; but how is that to be 
brought about, with the king a prisoner in Paris ? It was a 
false step to allow himself to be brought there. Now it be- 
comes necessary to try to get him out of it ; and the declaration 
made by the king in October that he was free and, to prove 
it, would visit the provinces in the spring, is a good pretext 
to leave the city ; meantime the Assembly must be allowed 
to commit its follies. 

Once out of Paris, the king ought to be able to give birth 
to a new order of things. If he is prevented from leaving 



78 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OE [chap. hi. 

Paris, his captivity will be shown to the provinces, and in 
that case a great change may be looked for. His party is 
already much increased in the Assembly and in the pro- 
vinces ; the courage, firmness, and good conduct of the queen 
have brought many back to her. All the nobles, except a 
few, not worthy of being such, are devoted to her, the clergy 
the same ; so is nearly the whole of the good bourgeoisie, and 
the number increases daily. There are none now but the 
canaille who are still stirred up by the famous words " des- 
potism " and " aristocracy ; " but a winter of experience and 
poverty — for everybody is saving and reforming, and nobody 
spends or gives — such a winter may calm and change a great 
many. 

The noble, feeling, and generous manner in which Y. M. 
expresses yourself on the situation of the king and queen of 
France is worthy of Y. M. All the world shares that senti- 
ment of indignation; but none of them dare to undertake 
anything for fear of compromising themselves ; they all seem 
awaiting the moment when the king shall be out of Paris be- 
fore declaring their intentions openly. The letters that Y. M. 
sends to the king and queen, can only touch them ; one is 
always more sensitive to kindness when unhappy. The com- 
mission which Y. M. gives me is too agreeable to let me fail 
in endeavouring to fulfil it myself. Besides which, I know 
no one to trust. . . . 

I came here from Valenciennes two days ago to see Baron 
Taube. I am not satisfied about his state of health. . . . 

I am, Sire, with the most profound respect. Your Majesty's 
very humble and obedient servant and faithful subject. 

Axel Feesen. 

[In consequence of these orders Count Fersen went to 
Paris at the end of January 1790 and remained there until 



1790] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 79 

Louis XVI.'s abortive attempt to escape in June, 1791. His 
letters to his father continue as follows : — ] 

Paris, February 1, 1790. 

I profit eagerly by the return of M. d'Ugglas to write you 
freely and without restraint, for the post is not safe ; there 
is such great inquisition, so many committees of search, and 
so much conspiracy, that no one dares to either speak or write. 
What a frightful situation this fine kingdom is in ! no force 
within, and no respect without ! It is null in the political 
system of Europe ; within, it is in complete anarchy. All 
bonds are dissolved ; there is no obedience to laws, no respect 
for religion, which does not exist except in name. They have 
taught the people to feel their strength, and they are using it 
with ferocity. The nobles, clergy, and parliament, who set 
the first examples of disobedience and resistance, are the first 
victims: they are ruined and their chateaux burned. The 
upper bourgeoisie, who were also seduced, repent now, but 
too late. The workmen, manufacturers, and artisans, all are 
ruined and dissatisfied, for purses are closed. Every one is 
desiring another order of things ; but — the populace is 
armed, and having nothing to lose, it has everything to gain. 
A mass of persons, whom hatreds, jealousies, and private 
revenge have led to conduct themselves ill to the king and 
to forget their obligations to him, hoping for no oblivion of 
what they have done except in a total subversion, are incit- 
ing the canaille with the great words " Liberty," " despotism " 
and " aristocracy." 

The Assembly [the Constituent Assembly] is divided 
into three parties : the aristocrats, the impartials, and the 
fanatics. The first are at present for the king, because that 
is also for their selfish interests. The impartials are the 
most reasonable, but, from that cause alone, the weakest. 



80 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. hi. 

The fanatics are the strongest, and are all against the king ; 
and M. Necker, as ignorant in administration as he was said 
to be learned in finance, imbued with philosophic ideas, has 
never reflected that he ought to win opinions for the king. 
He looks on means of seduction as not honest ; he has 
wanted to remain an honest man in the midst of rascals, and 
he has been their dupe. His immoderate conceit made him 
believe he could persuade them, but England's money has 
stronger and more irresistible arguments. M. Necker is not 
only guilty through ignorance, he is also guilty of treachery. 
He wished to be the minister of the people, to reign through 
them, and to force the king to be unable to do without him. 
He sacrificed the king and the State to his ambition. It is 
true that he is pimished for it ; his influence is completely 
null to-day ; punishment, however, repairs nothing ; and the 
king was wrong not to reign by him, inasmuch as he saw that 
he could not reign without him. 

Among the ministers there are none but MM. de la 
Luzerne and Saint-Priest who are well-intentioned towards 
the king ; the others are all imbeciles or knaves, in whom 
no confidence whatever can be placed. M. de Saint-Priest 
joins to intellect both character and firmness, and if occasion 
should present itself he is the only man on whom the king 
can rely. I am on very good terms with him ; his house is 
mine ; he loads me with kindness, civilities, and confidence. 
I know from him all that happens, and sometimes he even 
consults me. In spite of that, I only tell him what I 
choose ; I am prudent, for reserve is more than ever 
necessary. 

The National Assembly continues its folly. The provinces 
are more in a ferment than ever, and the king is a prisoner 
in Paris. His position — but above all, that of the queen, 
who feels it much more keenly than he does — is dreadful. 



1790] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 81 

The queen has shown and still shows a courage, character, 
and conduct which have won her many adherents. 

At this moment a party of the fanatics, with M. de Lafay- 
ette at their head, want to let themselves be won over to the 
king. The opportunity ought not to be lost; because a 
change for the better might then be hoped. You will cer- 
tainly hear of the step the king has taken towards the 
Assembly [agreeing to its abolishment of the rights of primo- 
geniture] ; this step is blamed and approved ; one party of the 
fanatics desired it; at that price they promised to put back 
into the king's hands all executive power and the army. 
A fraction of the aristocrats is displeased with it; the 
others have decided to remain faithful to the king and to 
contribute all in their power to the good of the cause. It is 
impossible to see the result of the king's action; but, at 
least, if it does no good it cannot do harm. 

Paris, April 2, 1790. 

Little change. The States-general do what they choose, 
without the slightest opposition; they reform and destroy 
everything with the utmost levity ; but they do not create so 
readily, and what they establish takes root with difficulty. 
Poverty and discontent are increasing ; they are beginning to 
touch the people, especially the populace of Paris, which 
now finds itself without resource, owing to the diminution or 
annihilation of fortunes occasioned by the degrees of the 
Assembly. There are persons who have lost 40,000 to 50,000 
francs a year, and others their whole revenue, by the aboli- 
tion of feudal rights. Most of the workmen and artisans 
have come to beggary. The shopkeepers are earning nothing, 
for nobody buys. The best workmen are leaving the king- 
dom, and the streets are full of paupers. One and all 
they blame the Assembly ; they reproach it for the absence 



82 DIAKY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. hi. 

of the great world, who were their subsistence, and for 
the diminution of fortunes which forces every one to econo- 
mize. The royal treasury is exhausted ; the taxes are very 
ill-paid or not paid at all ; there is neither credit nor confi- 
dence ; money has disappeared, every one hoards it ; nothing 
is seen but bills on the caisse d'escompte, which lose six per 
cent in realizing them. 

There, my dear father, is the present state of things. God 
knows how it will end. M. Necker is worse than ever ; his 
health is quite destroyed, and I do not believe he can live. 
He will be regretted by very few. 

Paeis, June 28, 1790. 

You will see by the public papers about the state of the 
army ; there is no longer any order or discipline. All heads 
are turned; the soldiers form committees; they dismiss, 
break, judge, and sometimes execute their officers. Every 
day we hear new horrors, and there is no longer any pleasure 
in serving. My regiment [the Eoyal-Swedish] has behaved 
marvellously well up to the present time, though everything 
has been done to seduce it. There has not been the slightest 
insubordination, and I hope that this may continue. 

Paris, July 16, 1790. 
The famous Federation, which had inspired such fears and 
was made such a bugbear, driving so many persons out of 
Paris, passed off very quietly. The ceremony, which might 
have been very august, very fine, and very imposing, from 
the enormous mass of assistants and the beauty of the scene, 
was made ridiculous by the disorder and indecency which 
reigned there. You will see a description of it in the public 
papers, and you know the situation of the Champ de Mars. 
But what the papers will not tell you is that there was no 
order, no one was in his right place ; the soldiers, who ought 



1790] COUNT AXEL FEKSEN. 83 

to have lined the arena as guard, obeyed no one ; they ran 
about hither and thither, dancing and singing, and before 
the arrival of the king and the Federal troops, they took a 
priest and two monks from the altar and, putting grenadier's 
caps on their heads and muskets on their shoulders, they 
marched them round the amphitheatre, singing and dancing, 
like so many savages before they eat Christians. At the 
moment of the mass people sang and danced, and no one 
knelt at the elevation of the Host, which made many 
persons who were present declare that the mass was not 
said at all. 

Those, my dear father, are little anecdotes which will give 
you an idea of what happened, and which I am sure you will 
not find in any newspaper. I ought to add that the populace 
and the National Guard, even those who were armed and on 
duty, forced the sentinels and entered, with their acquaint- 
ances, into the box of the ambassadors to shelter themselves 
from a shower ; and we should have been forced, if they had 
been more numerous, to vacate the place. They were not 

turned out. 

Paris, November 5, 1790. 

The disorders increase daily, and, to crown all evils, we 
cannot foresee the end. Poverty is felt everywhere ; coin has 
disappeared ; assignats, which were substituted for it, have 
little or no credit ; a thousand objections to receiving them 
in payment are made ; in many of the provinces the people 
will not take them at all. The merchants sell nothing; 
manufactories are at a standstill ; provisions grow dearer ; 
the quantity of paupers has increased so much that their 
number is terrifying. Paris, which is tranquil and safe 
enough for individuals, is full of thieves ; one hears of noth- 
ing but robberies committed, and as there is little law and 
order they are not prevented and remain unpunished. This 



84 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. hi. 

state of things cannot last, and the discontent, which is 
becoming general, will lead slowly to a change in affairs. 
When once the discontent rises to its height the new order 
of things will be as quickly overthrown as the old order was ; 
this is the effect of the vivacity and volatility of French 
heads. 

Paris, January 3, 1791. 

The affair of the clergy is making a great noise here at 
this moment, and the consequences cannot be foreseen. The 
Bishop of Clermont, who tried to propose a modification of the 
required oath and a form of adhesion to the decrees of the 
Assembly in all that concerns temporal matters, was not lis- 
tened to ; they forced him to answer "yes " or " no " ; he an- 
swered " no," and was followed by the majority of the clergy. 
Ninety-five refused the oath, against sixty who took it, among 
the latter two bishops, — the Bishop of Autun and the Arch- 
bishop of Bordeaux. All the other bishops of France, except 
the Archbishop of Sens and the Bishop of Lidda refused like- 
wise, and from that moment schism was established. Many 
persons think that this will make a great turmoil in the prov- 
inces ; I do not believe it. The people do not understand this 
article of faith, — it is not within their range ; and they will 
be delighted to choose their own bishop and their own rector. 
But I shall not be surprised if there are massacres, and if 
evil-minded persons profit by the refusal of the rectors of 
Paris to excite the canaille against them and so create an 
uproar. Those men have all to gain and nothing to lose by 

tumult. Unhappy country ! 

February 15, 1791, 

My position here is different from that of every one else. 
I have always been treated with kindness and distinction in 
this country by the ministers and by the king and queen. 
Your reputation and your services, my dear father, have 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 85 

been my passport and my recommendation ; perhaps a judi- 
cious, circumspect, and discreet conduct have won me appro- 
bation and esteem and some success. I am attached to the 
king and queen, and I ought to be for the manner, so full of 
kindness, with which they always treated me when they were 
able to do so ; and I should be vile and ungrateful if I aban- 
doned them now when they can do nothing more for me and 
while I have still the hope of being useful to them. To all the 
many kindnesses with which they loaded me they have now 
added a flattering distinction — that of confidence ; and it is 
all the more flattering because it is limited to four persons, of 
whom I am the youngest.^ 

If we can serve them, what pleasure I shall have in re- 
turning a part of the many obligations I am under to them . 
what sweet enjoyment to my heart if I am able to contribute 
to their welfare ! Yours feels it, my dear father, and you 
cannot but approve of me. This conduct is the only one 
that is worthy of your son, and, though it may cost you some- 
thing, you would be the first to order me to follow it, if I 
were capable of taking any other. In the course of this sum- 
mer all these events must surely develop and decide them- 
selves : if they are unfortunate and all hope is lost, nothing 
shall then prevent my going to you. 

[In the month of March, 1791, the king and queen asked 
the advice of Count Fersen as to their situation, and he gave 
them his opinion in the following paper : — ] 

1 These four persons were (1) the Baron de Breteuil, lately minister of 
state, who had emigrated in July, 1789, and was now the confidential 
agent of the King of France to the European Powers ; (2) the Marquis de 
Bouille, commanding certain troops in Metz; (3) the Comte de Mercy, 
minister and friend of the late Empress Maria Theresa, at one time Aus- 
trian amlaassador at the French Court, now minister of the Low Coun- 
tries under the Archduchess Maria Christina; (4) Count Fersen him- 
self. — Tr. 



86 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. hi. 

Memorial of Count Fersen to the King and Queen of France. 

March 27, 1791. 

There seems no doubt that it is necessary to act, and to 
act vigorously, if order and prosperity are to be restored, the 
kingdom saved from total ruin, its dismemberment prevented, 
the king replaced upon the throne, and his authority returned 
to him. The steady, uniform advance of the Jacobins in 
their wickedness, the disunion of the democrats in the As- 
sembly, the discontent of the provinces, which visibly in- 
creases but has no vent for want of a centre and point of 
union, the determination of the princes, particularly the 
Prince de Cond^, to act if the king does not act — all this 
indicates that the moment has come to take a course; it 
seems a favourable moment; and the more delay there is, 
the more difficult it will be. 

But how act — after the news received from the emperor 
[Leopold II., the queen's brother], the slovmess and indeci- 
sion of Spain, and the difficulty of finding money? Two 
courses present themselves : one is to undertake nothing 
before having formed alliances and obtained from the differ- 
ent Powers all necessary help, in men as well as money ; the 
other is to leave Paris, waiting only to be assured of the 
good-will of the foreign Powers and to obtain the necessary 
money to pay the troops for two or three months, by which 
time a loan can be made in Switzerland. 

The first of these courses is, without contradiction, the 
safest ; it presents less dangers for Their Majesties, and the 
advantage of a less doubtful, or at any rate, a less disputable 
success. But as it is not possible to see the period of it, 
must we not fear that the ills of the State, increasing during 
that time, may become more difficult to repair ? "Will not 
habit and discouragement become so fixed that it wiU then 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 87 

be impossible to conquer them ? Will not the now excited 
brains calm down and then unite to create an order of things 
still more disadvantageous to the king, but which private 
persons wlQ prefer, for the tranquillity it will give them, to 
the convulsions of civil war ? Moreover, will not the 
princes, before the period first mentioned can arrive, them- 
selves make efforts which, if successful, will give them the 
honour and the fruits, rallying to their side the nobles and 
all those discontented with the present regime, and will they 
not then be masters of the kingdom and of Their Majesties ? 

The second course is the most hazardous. The Comte de 
Mercy and Baron de Breteuil seem to indicate it. Their 
hope of success is founded on great probabilities. The 
emperor and Spain are well disposed, but Spain will do 
nothing without the emperor ; and the latter, from mis- 
taken policy and timid forethought, wants to delay the period 
of manifesting his good-will. (The ISTorthern powers are 
well-intentioned, but their distance and the war with the 
Turks hinders them from seconding the views of Their 
Majesties in a more active manner.) We are almost sure of 
Sardinia and Switzerland, and it is probable that a very 
marked advance of Their Majesties to those two Powers would 
decide them, for they are perhaps undecided only by a doubt 
of the firmness of Their Majesties' resolution, and by a fear 
of committing themselves uselessly should that resolution 
change ; M. de Mercy seems to indicate as much in his 
letter. 

Such a course would have something grand, noble, 
imposing, and audacious, the effect of which, both on the 
kingdom and in Europe would be incalculable; it might 
bring back the army and prevent its total decomposition ; it 
would fix the Constitution, and prevent the factions from 
making such changes in it as would consolidate the revolu- 



88 DIARY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. hi. 

tion, and, if done at this moment, would make the move- 
ment of the princes useful to the king, whereas, if they act 
alone and meet with reverses they could not, at the later 
period, be of service to his cause. 

Whatever may be the course which Their Majesties adopt, 
it seems necessary to await the answers of Vienna and Spain 
on the plan communicated to them, in order to fully under- 
stand their disposition and what can be expected of them. 
If the first course is adopted, Bouill^'s preparations must be 
stopped and negotiations continued. If the second is pre- 
ferred, preparations must go on and all be made ready for 
execution; the necessary money must be found; a well- 
intentioned and capable person chosen to go at once to 
England and sound, skilfully and without compromising 
himself, the intentions of that Power. This person should 
not receive his instructions till the moment of departure ; they 
should be to negotiate with that Court for its absolute 
neutrality, either by reasonable sacrifices or by forcing it 
with the help of the Northern Powers, whose disposition is 
not equivocal, but who, in consequence of their great dis- 
tance, cannot assist the king in a more direct manner. 

Prom the certainty which Their Majesties have of the 
intentions of the King of Sweden and his desire to be use- 
ful to them, would they feel any impropriety in authorizing 
me to communicate to him the plan they may adopt, and 
their intention to profit by the good disposition he manifests, 
and claim his good offices to restrain England in case that 
Power refuses to listen to any proposal for accommodation and 
tries to put obstacles to the execution of Their Majesties' pro- 
ject ? This mark of confidence would flatter the King of 
Sweden and could only interest him the more in the ultimate 
results. As this overture would pass through Baron Taube, 
whose attachment to his master and to Their Majesties is 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 89 

known to me, I would tell him to make no use of it but that 

which he believes necessary and most advantageous for Their 

Majesties. 

I have the honour to send to the queen a few reflections 

on the present state of affairs, also the translation of a letter 

I have just received ; it will prove still further to H. M. how 

earnestly the King of Sweden is interested in the [word 

omitted] of Their Majesties and the means of being useful 

to them. 

To Ms father. 

Paris, April 10, 1791. 

It seems as if the Assembly has taken upon itself the task 
of ruining this unhappy kingdom ; it is succeeding. The re- 
volutionaries have destroyed everything and put nothing in its 
place. Coin has disappeared, — there are nothing but bank 
bills at six per cent discount ; they wish to substitute others, 
called assignats, which will be forced and bring in four and a 
half per cent ; these are to be hypothecated on the sale of 
the property of the clergy. But there is no confidence, and 
this property will barely suffice to pay the debts of the 
clergy and public worship. Credit is gone, for everybody 
is ruined ; the suppression of feudal rights upset all fortunes 
and diminished them by more than half ; sometimes it de- 
stroyed them utterly. Up to that point the state of France 
resembled that of Sweden ; but add to it that the chateaux 
are pillaged or burned, the owners massacred or fugitive ; 
that there is neither authority nor order ; that the Assembly 
is led by the most perverted and infamous men, who have 
no interest except in general disorder and misfortune ; that 
the kingdom groans under the despotism of the multitude, 
which is the most dreadful of all — and you will have a 
true idea of the state of France. God knows how the coun- 
try will come out of it ; we must hope that the misery of 



90 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. hi. 

wMch each individual will soon feel the weight may change 
opinions, and from that change alone can we look for a 
change in the state of affairs. 

The situation of the king, especially that of the queen, is 
pitiful; her conduct and her courage have brought minds 
back to her. The army is lost ; the regiments have mutinied ; 
they no longer obey their leaders, and are taking part in the 
popular cause. 

KoTE. — The second plan referred to in Count Fersen's 
" Memorial to the King and Queen of France" is the one that Louis 
XVI. adopted. It is nowhere fully explained in all its details; 
but in general it was as follows : To escape from Paris to Mont- 
medy and there raise a rallying standard, gathering the loyal of 
the army and the emigres about him, and issuing a proclamation to 
France, dealing more especially with the pressing financial situa- 
tion, the question of bankruptcy, and the redemption of the 
assignats. This was the plan that was frustrated at Varennes. 
Louis XVI. was not attempting to escape from France at that 
time. — Te. 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 91 



CHAPTEE IV. 

1791. Preparations for the Escape of the King and Royal Family. — The 
King has a settled Plan, not fully revealed. — Safe Departure from 
Paris, driven by Count Fersen. — The Arrest at Varennes. 

Count Fersen to Baron Tauhe. 

Paris, April 18, 1791. 

My deae Friend, — I hope you have received all mine; I 
am awaiting your answer with the greatest impatience. I 
wish my letter of April 1 may have reached you soon. They 
are making the design for my carriage, and I hope to send it 
to you very soon. 

[In cipher.] An answer has come from the emperor, still 
in the same style ; he fears England, and will not bind him- 
self to anything until the Kiag of France is at liberty and in 
a place of safety. They have written to him to know 
whether, in that case, they can count upon him ; his answer 
is now expected. 

The Marquis de Bouill^ has proposed to the King of 
France to cede some possessions in India, or even all of 
them, to England, reserving the right of commerce there. 
The king is repugnant to such a sacrifice, and is now await- 
ing the advice of Baron de Breteuil upon it ; but all this 
cannot be negotiated until he is safely out of Paris. The 
King of France seems to wish to make this escape the latter 
part of May. To find the money is the difficulty, 

The chaplain of our ambassador [M. de Stael] is a decided 
democrat. For a long time he would not pray in church for 
the King of France, but for " the King of the French " as de- 
creed by the National Assembly. Many persons, shocked by 



92 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. iv. 

the change, induced the ambassador to stop it ; but the chap- 
lain, to avoid saying " King of France " now says " Louis 
XVI.," to the great scandal of part of the congregation. 

Entreat the king [of Sweden] to be cautious if he comes 
to Aix-la-Chapelle, even with the best-intentioned persons, 
for they will put meanings on the slightest words that escape 
him, and their indiscretions might be as hurtful at this 
moment as the savage espionage which will certainly seek 
to discover the sentiments of the king. He may rest assured 
that these madmen, who fear him, will surround him with 
spies ; his reputation makes them tremble, for he is much 
admired here. 

From several conversations I have had with the Eussian 
minister I think I see that the empress [Catherine II.] dares 
not trust too much to the king's dispositions relatively to 
herself and England. 

The King and Queen of France will not perform their 
Easter duties, for they have heard that the canaille are 
to be excited to make a disturbance because they have 
both determined not to employ the priests who have taken 
the oath ; they have changed their confessor for the same 
reason. 

[^In plain writing.'] Yesterday there was a sort of mutiny 
at the king's service. The grenadiers of the guard refused 
to go into the king's chapel during mass, because it was said 
by a priest who did not take the oath. They wanted to pre- 
vent any one from entering, and the priest from officiating. 
M. de Lafayette appeared for the first time to prevent an 
indecency ; he spoke to them and succeeded in pacifying 
their minds by saying they were there as a matter of military 
duty and not for worship. Since the evening before, this 
guard had been worked upon ; they had been kept drinking 
all night and during the morning. . . . 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 93 

The king and his family leave this morning for Saint- 
Cloud ; they will return on Wednesday or Thursday week. 

l_Added to the preceding letter.'] At half -past eleven the 
king went to mass, — M. Bailly [mayor] having previously 
come to warn him that his departure for Saint-Cloud would 
occasion a disturbance, and that the people seemed inclined 
to oppose it. The king replied that liberty having been 
decreed to every man to go and come as he pleased, it would 
be very extraordinary if he were the only man who could not 
go two leagues to get fresh air ; and that he was quite deter- 
mined to go. 

He came down with the queen, Madame Elisabeth, the 
children, and Mme. de Tourzel, and as the carriages had not 
been able to enter the Cour des Princes, he turned to go and 
meet them in the Carrousel. On being told that the crowd 
was enormous, he stopped in the middle of the Cour des 
Princes, and the queen proposed to him to get into a carriage 
which was in the court, although it was only a herline. They 
all six got into it; but when the carriage reached the gate the 
National Guard refused to open it and let the king pass. In 
vain M. de Lafayette [their commander] talked to them, 
declaring that none but enemies of the constitution would 
behave in that way ; that by thwarting the king's will they 
gave him the air of being a prisoner and defeated the decrees 
which he had sanctioned. They answered only by invectives 
and assurances that they would not let the king pass out. 

They used the most insulting terms, calling the king a 

aristocrat, a fat pig, incapable of reigning ; that he ought to be 
deposed and the Due d'Orl^ans put in his place ; that he was 
only a public functionary to whom they paid 25,000,000, 
which was a great deal too much, and he would have to do 
as they chose. 

The same talk went on among the people. M. de Lafay- 



94 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. iv. 

ette called upon the mayor to proclaim martial law and dis- 
play the red flag ; he refused. . . . Detachments of grenadiers 
as they arrived swore that the king should not leave Paris ; 
several showed balls, saying that they would put them into 
their muskets and fire upon the king if he made the slightest 
motion to go. All the people of the household who approached 
the carriage were insulted. . . , M. de Gougenot, the steward, 
having gone to the queen's side to take her orders about 
the dinner, was dragged away and came near being hanged. 
The queen leaned forward to tell them to let him be be- 
cause he was in the king's service ; on which they told her 
they had no orders to receive from her ; others said : " There 's 

a pretty b who thinks she can give us orders ! " . . . M. 

de Lafayette asked the king if he wished him to force a pas- 
sage and make the law respected. The soldiers cried out 
that he had no power to do it for they had all taken out their 
bayonets and would never serve against brave citizens. The 
king refused to employ force, and said : " I will have no 
blood shed for me ; when I am gone you will be master to 
employ all means you please to make the laws respected." 

Some of the grenadiers who were near the carriage wept ; 
a few advanced and said to the king : " Sire, you are loved, 
you are adored by your people ; but do not go ; your life 
would be in danger ; you are ill-advised ; you are misled ; 
the people want you to send away the priests ; they are 
afraid of losing you." The king silenced them, saying it was 
they who were misled, and that no one ought to doubt his 
intentions or his love for his people. 

At last, after two hours and a quarter of vain attempts, 
and useless efforts on the part of M. de Lafayette, the king 
ordered the carriage to be turned roimd. On getting out of it 
the soldiers pressed in crowds around them. Some said : " We 
will defend you." The queen answered, looking proudly at 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 95 

them : " Yes, we count on that ; but you must allow that at pres- 
ent we are not free." As they pressed closely and entered the 
vestibule in crowds, the queen took the dauphin in her arms, 
Madame Elisabeth took Madame Eoyale, and they hui-ried 
them in as best they could. The king then slackened his pace 
and when the queen and Madame Elisabeth had reached the 
queen's room and entered, he turned round and said, " Halt, 
grenadiers ! " They all stopped as if their legs were cut 
off. . . . 

In the Cour des Princes there was no one but the National 
Guard ; the people were in the Carrousel and the gates be- 
tween were closed. Nothing was said there against the 
queen, but horrors against the king. They both spoke with 
much firmness and coolness ; their bearing was perfect. All 
was quiet within the palace. At eight o'clock the king was 
notified that the National Guard had decided to enter all the 
rooms that night, even those of the king, under pretext of 
seeing that no priests were there. This resolution was, how- 
ever, changed at ten o'clock. In the Carrousel a man read 
aloud, by the light of a torch, a paper full of horrors about 
the king, exhorting the people to force the palace, fling 
everything out of the windows, and above all not to miss the 
opportunity they had lost at Versailles on the 5th of October. 

Paris, April 22, 1791. 
It is thought to be the faction of the Due d'Oii^ans that 
caused what happened on the 18th, for the leaders of the 
Jacobins are, with good reason, much disturbed by it. This 
affair gives proof of the imprisonment of the King of France, 
and consequently nullifies all the sanctions, and even the 
Constitution. After this event, which I do not regard as 
unfortunate for the King of France, his conduct ought to 
change ; he ought not to oppose anythtug ; on the contrary, 



96 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. iv. 

he should yield in every way, and do all they ask of him, in 
order to show that he is not free, and also to put them to 
sleep about his real projects, to which he ought to hold more 
firmly, and to the execution of which he ought to sacrifice 
everything, however painful it may be to do so. 

Their Majesties are running great dangers at this mo- 
ment ; the things that are said about them are dreadful ; 
they are no longer respected, and their life is threatened 
openly and with impunity. But to make sure of their per- 
sonal safety and tranquillity the means must he good. . . . 

Last night M. de Lafayette sent in his resignation; the 
majority of the National Guard and all the sections of Paris, 
except three, desire him to remain, and have asked him to 
do so. It is not known what course he will take. I think 
he will remain if he can. 

[Louis XVI. having determined to leave Paris, Count 
Fersen took charge of all the arrangements and carried them 
out successfully, although in the end his efforts were fatally 
defeated at Vareimes. The following letters relate to the 
affair.] 

Count Fersen to the Marquis de BouillS. 

Paris, April 28, 1791. 

The king [of France] will be ready to start the last two 
weeks in May, and he is very determined not to put it off 
any longer ; but he must have until the fifteenth to receive 
the answer from Spain. He feels how urgent the circum- 
stances are, and all that happened on Monday of last week 
makes him more resolved than ever. He recommends you to 
make on your side no more open preparations than are abso- 
lutely necessary. He fears, and with reason, that by drawing 
attention in your direction it may increase the watchfulness 
here and that his departure will be more difficult, and sue- 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 97 

cess less certain. They are negotiating for the money, but 
nothing is yet settled as to that. M. de Mercy intimates in 
all his letters that as soon as the king is safely out of 
Paris the Powers will declare themselves and favourably 
for him. 

From the Baron de Breteuil to Count Fersen. 

April 30, 1791.1 

I have received your letter of the 22d of this month. I 
needed the approaching execution of the plan to calm my 
distress about that cruel day of the 18th. 

I will be as quickly as I can at the place indicated ; but I 
warn you that the order to leave here should not be sent to 
me at the time the king leaves Paris, and not until he has 
joined M. de Bouille ; because, having, before I leave, to take 
certain steps towards the Cantons, in order to put them in 
motion, it would be equally imprudent, dangerous, and useless 
to let those steps become public before His Majesty's pro- 
ject is entirely carried out. 1 hope that this reflection will 
seem as right as it is necessary. 

As it is impossible, no matter what diligence I may make, 
that the king will not be some days before me at the place 
where he is to go, I request that (excepting military opera- 
tions, as to which it is important not to embarrass or delay 
the views of the general [de Bouill^]), His Majesty will be 
so good as to take no resolutions as to persons or things 
before I have received his orders. Nothing is more essential 

1 In the French, no date of place is given to the letters of the three 
men who, with Fersen, made arrangements for the king's escape. From 
the context it appears that the Marquis de Bouille was in a position of 
command at Metz ; M. de Mercy was Austrian minister at Brussels ; and 
the Baron de Breteuil was in Switzerland. Baron Taube was in Stockholm ; 
he was first gentleman of the Bedchamber to the King of Sweden, and 
had his entire confidence. — Tr. 

7 



98 DIARY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. it. 

for the service of the king than to avoid all precipitate steps, 
which one might be compelled to retrace. I venture to add 
that it is not less essential that His Majesty should make 
known, even in the slightest details, the extent of the con- 
fidence with which he honours me for the conduct of affairs. 
The king may regard this request of my purest zeal in the 
light of ambition ; I should be from that moment incapable 
of becoming of any utility in the difhcult position in which 
the kingdom is now placed. You will judge of this truth as 
I do. 

Count Fersen to Baron Tauhe. 

May 2, 1791. 

My dear Fkiend, — I received three days ago your letter 
of April 8. As for the Prince de Condd, I have already given 
to the king [of Sweden] very precise information in my 
letter of April 1, sent by a Eussian courier, also in one of 
the 11th of that month. In those two letters you will see 
[the rest in cipher~\ that the Prince de Cond^ is intrusted 
with nothing and is ignorant of all the projects of the King 
of France. His ambitious nature, his indiscretion towards 
the men of his own party, would compromise the secrecy so 
essential to this great object. The conduct of the princes, 
who have always chosen to act without consulting the king, 
and even in spite of him, without considering the dangers 
to which they expose him, but above all, the dependence in 
which the king would be if he charged them with so great 
an undertaking, — all these things have led His Majesty to 
confide nothing to them and not to make use of any of their 
resources until he is at liberty. 

Nevertheless, the Prince de Condd continues to work, but 
it is on his own account; and in spite of the weakness or 
nullity of his means and the impossibility of success, he 
seems decided to attempt something. The king takes all 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 99 

possible means to delay this enterprise until he is at liberty, 
without, however, confiding anything to him, for if he did the 
secret would be betrayed and all would fail. The king may 
be forced by the Assembly to issue a proclamation against 
the Prince de Conde ; this will be another proof of his want 
of freedom, and His Majesty may give it, as he has decided 
to yield everything in order to lull to sleep the factions as 
to his real project, and inspire them with the confidence so 
necessary to enable him to leave Paris. He still seems de- 
termined to attempt it during the last fifteen days of this 
month. There is much ferment in Paris, but it is chiefly 
against M. de Lafayette, who has resumed command of the 
National Guard, which is very lucky ; otherwise we might 
have had some one more capable and worse. 

The Danish minister tells me there is much political ex- 
citement in Sweden, which is waiting for the departure of 
the king [Gustavus III.] to break out. . . . When H. M. ar- 
rives at the place where he intends to stop, I shall at once go to 
him ; but if he gets there before the King of France leaves 
Paris, it will be impossible, for it is quite impossible that the 
escape can be made without me ; I am the sole person here 
in his confidence, and he has no one on whose discretion he 
can rely to take my place. 

Count Fersen to the Marquis de Bouille. 

Paris, May 3, 1791. 

M. de Giliers has just proposed a strong plan ; namely, to 
carry off the king by force of arms either from here or from 
Fontainebleau. He says that M. Heimann, who is here, is in 
concert with him, and that the general, who is very well 
disposed, will pledge himself. They would send six hun- 
dred thousand francs to win over the troops and induce them, 
as well as the departments, to demand the king's liberty and 

L.of C. 



100 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. iv. 

to march at once to obtain it. He says there are sixty 
squadrons and eight thousand men sure. M. de Klingin 
will also be with them, and M. de Giliers wishes to go and 
speak with you. He says that the Jacobius have given 
Heimann three millions with which to go to Prussia and 
bribe the favourites, and that Heimann wants to take that 
money and use it for the king. As he has always been 
the creature of the Due d'Orl^ans it is feared that the 
whole thing is a trap into which M. de Giliers has fallen. 
Here is the answer signed by the king and queen. They 
have also sent word verbally that if M. Heimann wishes to 
give a proof of attachment he will transfer the three millions 
to the king. 

Copy of letter from the King and Queen of France annexed 
to the foregoing. 

The king, being decided at the present time to follow the 
impulsions of the Assembly and to work in concert with 
that body, for the restoration of order and tranquillity, can- 
not and will not admit of any measure which is contrary to 
its projects ; that which is now proposed to him, while giving 
him fresh proof of M. de Giliers' attachment, nevertheless 
seems to him more than doubtful as to success, and might 
only expose uselessly the good and faithful servants who 
undertook it. From the prudence and disposition that M. 
de Bouill^ has manifested down to the present time, the 
king has reason to think that he would not enter into any 
project of that nature. 

Baron Taube to Count Fersen. 

Stockholm, May 6, 1791. 

My deak Friend, — The king orders me to tell you that 
he charges you to say to the King and Queen of France 



1791] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 101 

that he will employ all possible means to try to succour 
them. His opinion is, if Their Majesties can escape from 
Paris, that they should at once convoke all the parliaments 
of Erance and have the National Assembly declared illegal, 
the usurper of the rights of the throne and royalty, the 
individual members declared rebels and traitors and the 
whole country ordered to attack them ; all the great officers, 
and the chiefs of the army who were obliged to escape from 
the country, also all the priests, should be recalled ; every- 
thing should be re-established as it was before the revolution ; 
the clergy should be replaced in their old regime and wor- 
ship ; the three orders of the State, which have been abol- 
ished by usurpation of the Assembly, should be re-established, 
but declared at the same time to be without difference as to 
the payment of taxes; the Due d'Orl^ans should be ar- 
rested, and tried and condemned by one of the parliaments, 
and no mercy shown to him ; above all, the army should be 
brought back to discipline and the most absolute sub- 
ordination; and rigorous examples should not be spared to 
compel this ; and, finally, no compromises should be made 
with no matter who ; no mixed government permitted ; royalty 
should be replaced in its omnipotence; the king ought to 
leave Paris forever, and cause that haunt of assassins to 
perish through the total oblivion of its existence ; for as long 
as there is a Paris in France there will never be kings ; his- 
tory proves this. 

The king also thinks that it is very prudent not to confide 
any secret negotiations to the Prince de Cond^; but he 
also thinks it would not be prudent to show him dis- 
trust, and that it would be best to make use of his military 
talents without admitting him into the administration. 

The king is convinced that none of the sovereigns will act 
with hostility against the King of France as soon as he is 



102 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. iv. 

out of his prison, — not even England, which, at the present 
time sustains the animosity and anarchy by money and 
underhand proceedings. 

I have not tried to prevent the king's journey, for it would 
be in vain ; besides, his health needs to be restored after the 
extreme fatigue of body and mind which he has borne during 
the last three years of war. I took another way to increase 
his hatred to the National Assembly, which he already de- 
tests from the bottom of his heart. I told him that you had 
begged me to warn him that he would be surrounded by 
spies of the Assembly, who would explain to suit themselves 
every word he said; that he ought to distrust even those 
whom he thinks well-intentioned, but who, by their indis- 
cretions do almost as much harm as the madmen who sur- 
round the King of France. He charged me to thank you for 
that advice, which he would confide to no one, and to say 
that his talk in future would be more republican than 
monarchical ; and he requests you to warn Their Majesties 
of this. 

The king disapproves of the emperor's conduct. 

Count Fersen to the Marquis de BouilU. 

Paris, May 6, 1791. 

Here is a copy of the letter of M. de Mercy. It is possible 
to place troops along the frontier of Luxembourg, but any 
movement beyond the frontier would be impossible at the 
present moment. The most essential thing is the safety of 
the flight. The escort should be scattered along the route ; 
one shudders in thinking of the horrors that might happen 
if they were betrayed and arrested. 

The route agreed upon is by Meaux, Chalons, Eeims, Ile- 
E^thel, Pauvre. Write me if you wish it changed, and 
what the precautions are that you mean to take. There are 



1791] COUNT AXEL FEESEN, 103 

none of the body-guard at Chalons ; the town requested that 
it might have no more of them. 

Count Fersen to Baron Taube. 

Paris, May 9, 1791. 

My dear Friend — I received two days ago yours of the 
19th. The cipher of yours of the 8th was so incorrect, and you 
had forgotten so many things in it that I had the greatest 
difficulty in the world to make out its meaning. Towards 
the end the cipher was plainer ; I managed to guess that the 
king [of Sweden] had ordered M. de Stael to say to Mont- 
morin that H. M. would not receive the new envoy, but 
preferred to keep the present secretary of the embassy. The 
squabbles which increase daily between our neighbour [the 
Empress of Russia] and the other Powers are very injurious 
to [changes to cipher] the projects of the King of France ; but 
his position is such (and it is becoming day by day more 
dreadful) that it is impossible he can bear it much longer ; 
he has therefore decided to risk all for all rather than live 
in the daily humiliation into which a mass of factious men 
have cast him. It is towards the end of this month that 
he means to act. 

\_In plain writing.'] Nothing is changed here. The Jaco- 
bins still have the upper hand. M. de Clermont-Tonnerre 
just missed being hanged the other day, on leaving the As- 
sembly, for having spoken against the union of the comitat of 
Avignon with France, and without the assistance of the 
National Guard he indubitably would have been. 

The domestic household of the king is about to be sent 
away in a body, and a new one is to be formed ; it is not 
known yet how it will be composed, but they think that all 
the old appointments will be changed and the places filled 
indiscriminately by nobles and roturiers. Since April 18 



104 DIAKY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. iv. 

the emigration is enormous ; every one is departing for foreign 
countries ; Paris is almost deserted. The matter of religion 
is one which drives a great many persons to other countries 
where they can practise it freely. Besides, as everything 
goes for fashion in this country, it is good style to go away. 
People are awaiting with much impatience to know what 
course the pope will take relatively to his nuncio. Since 
the letter of M. de Montmorin and the insults offered to the 
effigy of His Holiness, which was publicly burned together 
with his brief at the Palais-Eoyal, it is said that they mean 
to do the same with all the sovereigns, beginning with the 
emperor and the King of Spain. Our master will surely not 
be forgotten, especially as they are now saying, and the 
rumour is spreading among the people, that he is coming to 
Aix-la-Chapelle to put himself at the head of the counter- 
revolution ; even sensible people believe this ! 

The Marquis de BouillS to Count Fersen, in cipher. 

May 9, 1791. 

Send me M. Goguelat ; he must be with you now. He 
will be very useful to me in making the necessary reconnoit- 
ring of the route in the Eeims division, hereafter named ; he 
could bring the money I asked of you, which is needed. 
From M. de Mercy's letter it is to be feared that the Aus- 
trians will not join the king ; but we must absolutely obtain 
that the king may have seven or eight thousand men in his 
pay, even if they are not auxiliaries. This reinforcement is 
necessary to restrain the troops we assemble, for though they 
are nearly all German, they are liable to be bribed ; whereas 
with this reinforcement they will think all is possible, and 
their fidelity will be secured. Concern yourself above all in 
obtaining the money. 

All reflection given, the shortest, safest, and simplest route 



1791J COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 105 

is by Meaux, Montmirail (whence they must not forget to 
take the road by Fert^-sous-Jouarre), Chalons, Sainte-Mene- 
hould, Varennes, Dun, and Stenay. From Sainte-Menehould 
to Stenay there will be good detachments placed for escort ; 
the distance is twelve leagues. Could we not admit M. 
d'Agoult into the secret a few days before the start, and get 
him to go to Chalons, with some thirty of the most resolute 
of the body-guard on pretext of looking after the horses 
which are there, and removing them as the town requests ? 
Those thirty guards could be on horseback at the gate of the 
town at a fixed hour and escort as far as Sainte-Menehould. 
Tell M. Goguelat to take that route in coming here, and to 
make a report to the general. 

Write me what they think. You see how essential it is 
to be notified in time of the day fixed ; and that it be irrevo- 
cable. It must not be later than June 1. Here is the route 
in detail: Paris to Meaux, 25 miles; Meaux to Fertd-la- 
Jouarre, 12 miles ; Fert^ to Montmirail, 21 miles ; Montmi- 
rail, to Chalons-sur-Marne, 35 miles; Chalons to Sainte- 
Menehould, 25 miles; Sainte-Menehould to Varennes, 12 
miles ; Varennes to Dun, 12 ; Dun to Stenay, 7 ; Stenay to 
M . . . , 5 miles. You can see this route on the map of the 
departments. It makes in all about one hundred and fifty- 
three miles. By leaving at night and travelling through the 
next night they would arrive on the second day. 

Count Fersen to the Baron de Bretuil. 

Paris, May 16, 1791. 

I have received your two despatches of April 30 and May 
3. The king approves of all you say touching your de- 
parture. His Majesty feels as you do the necessity of your 
making some overtures to the cantons; but he thinks you 
ought first to prepare the way with the advoyers [supreme 



106 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. iv. 

judges in certain cantons of Switzerland] in those cantons of 
which you are sure, in order that you may get to him as 
soon as possible; you might also charge the Bishop of 
Pamiers (or any other you may indicate) to continue the 
negotiation, which is for a loan of several millions and 
twenty or thirty thousand men to be employed at will. The 
cantons would have to pay them, at least during the first three 
months. 

As it is important to take no hasty resolution from which 
we might have to retreat, and as circumstances may arise in 
which decision must be made before your arrival, the king 
wishes you to put in writing your general ideas and views, 
which might guide him in taking a steady and uniform 
course. This paper should be sent by a safe man to Luxem- 
bourg early enough to reach the king on his arrival at Mont- 
m(5dy. This man is not to be in the secret, and must be 
told to remain in Luxembourg till further orders. You must 
send me his name. 

We have four millions for the first wants. It would be, 
I think, good policy to take a decided course at once about the 
bankruptcy, whether to be made, or not made, and about the 
assignats. The property of the clergy, when returned to them, 
could pay off the latter. This would make fewer enemies, 
and would interest all who hold them and also all bankers 
in the success of the king's enterprise. What do you think 
of this ? 

The king is very uneasy about the junction of the Comte 
d'Artois with the Prince de Cond^. He charges you to 
write to him and try to prevent it ; without, however, telling 
him anything in detail of the king's projects, but reminding 
him that H. M. has always promised to do nothing without 
him, but that the moment and the means can be decided by 
no one but the king. 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 107 

You will add from him that H. M. desires that the Comte 
d'Artois shall not join the Prince de Cond^, of whose pro- 
ceedings he disapproves, inasmuch as they only render the 
king's projects more difficult of execution; but, on the con- 
trary, he wishes him to keep near to the King of Sardinia, 
in order to maintain that prince in the good inclinations he has 
always shown, and to guide the Southern provinces, so that all 
may work together, in concert with the king, for the ap- 
proaching execution of the ideas he has adopted. You will 
make the Comte d'Artois feel the necessity of the greatest 
secrecy, as much towards Worms as towards the provinces 
and his whole party. All would be lost if the slightest pro- 
ject were suspected. And you will add that the king, having 
no means of corresponding directly with him, makes his 
communications pass through you. You will send him 
your courier wherever you may be, whether en route or at 
Worms. 

The Marquis de Bouille to Count Fersen, in cipher. 

No date. 
The movement of Austrian troops on the frontier is neces- 
sary. It is absolutely necessary that a body of troops shall 
be at Luxembourg, and that squadrons be stationed at Arlon 
and Verton, and that other points be guarded ; without that, I 
may not be able to leave Metz and take out the four German 
and Swiss regiments which at the present moment compose 
the whole garrison; and I could not bring to the frontier 
the cavalry who are now scattered over the ilat country. 
Thus, if it is desired that the king should maintain himself 
with liis own troops in his kingdom, he absolutely must 
wait until the Austrians arrive and I can make the move- 
ment on the frontier with that pretext. But if, on the 
contrary, the king merely wishes to leave the kingdom I can 



108 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. iv. 

escort him at once wherever he pleases. But I believe, if 
there are no imperative reasons at this moment, such as the 
safety of the king, that it would be better to do as I propose 
and wait till the 15th or 20th, at which date the Austrians 
will surely have arrived at the line indicated. If the em- 
peror sincerely desires to help the king, he will lend himself 
to this step and hasten the march of the troops to Luxem- 
bourg, inasmuch as the success of the plan depends upon it 
so entirely, and the delay increases the difficulties and the 
risks daily. 

The route is fully agreed upon, except that they will have 
to go as far as Clermont. We are now reconnoitring the 
road from Clermont to Dun ; they can take the cross-road 
easily ; horses are all ready for that purpose, so that there 
may be no delay at the post-house. We shall manage to 
send a detachment of hussars who will meet the king at 
Chalons and escort him to Sainte-Menehould or Clermont, 
where there will be other detachments. You must see to 
the safety of the route as far as Chalons. 

Count Fersen to the Marquis de BouilU, in cijpher. 

May 26, 1791. 
I have written to G-oguelat to go to you, and do all that 
jow order. He is a safe man ; he needs only to be moder- 
ated. The king approves the route ; it will be fixed such as 
you have sent it. They are now occupied about the body- 
guard. I shall send you by diligence to-morrow or Tuesday, 
in a roll of white taffeta addressed to M. de Contades, one 
million in assignats ; we have four millions, of which one is 
out of the country. We have received a very good letter 
from the emperor, and they have written to him to reinforce 
the line towards Luxembourg with eight or ten thousand 
men, disposable at will. 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 109 

The king intends to start during the first eight days of 
June, for at that time he receives two millions from the civil 
list. If you want more money they will send it. Between 
the lines of this writing are written in white ink the num- 
bers of the notes that I send you. Make the white ink show 
out before you decipher the last two lines of this letter ; ^ the 
word for the two is hattre. There are no precautions to 
take between here and Chalons ; the best precaution of all 
is to take none. All will depend on celerity and secrecy, 
and if you are not perfectly sure of your detachments it 
would be better to place none ; or at least, place none this 
side of Varennes, so as not to excite attention in the coun- 
try. The king will then pass simply. 

Count Fersen to the Marquis de Bouille, in cipher. 

May 29, 1791. 
The departure is fixed for the 12th of next month. All 
was ready, and they could have gone on the 6th or 7th, but 
they do not receive the two millions till the 7th or 8th ; be- 
sides which, the dauphin has a maid who is very democratic, 
and she does not leave till the 11th. They will take the 
last route agreed upon. I shall not accompany the king ; he 
does not wish it. I shall go through Quesnoy and come 
out by Bavay to Mons. I will notify M. de Vauban, 
who is at Quesnoy, and I shall write you more positively 
on Wednesday. Let me know at once of the arrival of 
my letters ; this is very important now, and I will do the 
same by you. 

1 Throughout the corresponclence from this point, especially in the let- 
ters of Queen Marie- Antoinette, "white ink" is used and mentioned; it 
was made visible by heating the paper or by washing it with some chemical 
preparation. In many places gaps in the letters occur, where the words 
were illegible at the time, or later when Count Eersen himself copied 
them. — Tk. 



110 DIAKY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. iv. 

Count Fersen to Baron Tauhe, in cipher. 

May 31, 1791. 

My deae Fkiend, — The king and queen charge me to tell 
the king [of Sweden] that they cannot sufficiently express 
their feelings for the marks of interest and friendship which 
he never ceases to give them; they will always feel it a 
pleasure and a duty to be grateful for them. Their depart- 
ure was fixed for June 12th, but M. de Bouill6 wanted it 
delayed till the 15th or 20th, to give the Austrians time 
to reinforce the cordon of troops about Luxembourg and 
thus give him a pretext for assembling those of the 
king. 

The Comte d'Artois and the Prince de Cond^ seem deter- 
mined to act in spite of the weakness, or nothingness, of 
their means. Such a course will be of the greatest danger, 
and as the Comte d'Artois will doubtless see the king [of 
Sweden, then at Aix-la-Chapelle], Their Majesties desire 
that His Majesty should dissuade him, by proving to him 
that he neither can nor should act against the will of the 
king ; that he can only expose Their Majesties and himself 
uselessly. The king [of Sweden] may add that he has rea- 
son to think the king desires to act, but it is necessary, for 
the success of his projects, to leave the sole direction of them 
to him,and to second him in the manner that he desires, — he 
being more in the way of judging of means and the proper 
moment of execution than others. 

But H. M. must not tell Comte d'Artois the king's plan, be- 
cause the Prince de Cond^, who rules him, might induce him 
to anticipate the king's action so as to gain the whole credit of 
it for himself. Persuade the king not to give ear to all the 
exaggerations of the aristocrats at Aix-la-Chapelle ; above all, 
not to let them know anything of the king's projects, for all 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. Ill 

would be ruined. I wiU write you again two days before 
I start. 

I send this to Aix-la-Chapelle, believing you to be tbere 
already. Take care of yourself for the sake of all French- 
men. Count Esterhazy knows nothing. 

Count Fersen to Baron Taube, in cijpJier. 

Paris, June 2, 1791. 

The king has just received news from the Comte d'Artois, 
who tells him of the result of his interview with the emperor 
at Mantua. The disposition the emperor showed in that 
interview does not accord in any way with what he has 
previously written. He manifested the most decided will to 
serve the king with all his forces; he said he was fully 
assured of Spain and Prussia, and thinks that there is noth- 
ing to fear from England ; but as to that he agreed that more 
assurances were needed. As for the King of Sardinia, the 
Swiss, and the German princes, there was no doubt whatever 
as to their intentions, and he hoped that peace with the Turks 
would soon be made, which would enable him to employ all 
his forces in this direction; he also said that the Powers 
nearest to France would furnish troops amounting in all to 
100,000 to 150,000 men. 

In consequence of this, Comte d'Artois urges the king to 
wait in Paris until, towards July 15, all these troops can be 
set in motion and enter France at the same moment, and 
then, by a manifesto which would make the city of Paris 
responsible for all events, the life of Their Majesties would 
be safe, and they could then deliver them. 

The Comte d'Artois assures the king that the Prince de 
Cond^ knows nothing of this plan; he asks to be alone 
charged with the execution of it ; and that the king will dis- 
avow the Baron de Breteuil and all that he has done. It is 



112 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap, iv, 

M. de Calonne who is leading the Comte d'Artois at the 
present moment. The king, feeling that the passive r5le 
they want to make him play in this affair is contrary to his 
inclination, and would put him later into too much depen- 
dence on those who would have the credit of having done all, 
and being decided not to abandon the men who serve him, 
has resolved to follow his first project, and to profit, as soon 
as he gains his liberty, by the good intentions of the Powers, 
whose aid he will himself invoke. Moreover, as this news 
is brought only verbally by a man sent by Comte d'Artois, 
and the king has several times received missions which have 
been contradicted by subsequent letters, he has just sent a 
courier to the emperor to make sure that this news is true, 
asking him as a first proof of his good-will to give him 8000 
or 10,000 troops from the Low Countries on the frontier, and 
to wait till the king is out of Paris to make the rest of 
his good intentions effective. 

The king is still fixed to his plan and expects to start from 
here on the 15th, 16th, or 17th. If Comte dArtois speaks 
to the king [of Sweden] of his plan. Their Majesties desire 
he should answer that he cannot enter upon any negotiation 
of that nature except at the request of the King of France 
himself. All this has been arranged by M. de Calonne that 
he may have the merit of it, enter the ministry, and exclude 
the Baron de Breteuil. The King of France is extremely sur- 
prised at the certainty the emperor appears to have as to the 
good intentions of Prussia and England, which does not agree 
at all with what M. de Mercy and even Prince Kaunitz have 
always written to Baron de Breteuil. Write me if you have 
any notions thereon. 



1791] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 113 

Count Fersen to the Marquis de BouilU, in cipher. 

No date. 

Try, if possible, not to send the Due de Choiseul here [he 
had already started]. No one, certainly, is more attached; 
but he is a young man, a blunderer, and I fear some indis- 
cretion; he has too many friends, relatives, and possibly a 
mistress to save. Send back Goguelat instead, on any pre- 
text, to M. Duportail. I have had much difficulty in finding 
your horses ; I hope to send them to-morrow. 

Make sure of your detachments, and do not send them 
beyond Varennes. 

Count Fersen to the Marquis de Bouille, in cipher. 

June 13, 1791. 

The departure is fixed, without delay, for the 20th at mid- 
night. A dangerous maid of the dauphin, whom they could 
not get rid of, and who does not leave till Monday morning 
has forced them to put off this departure till Monday night ; 
but you may count upon it. No relays will be sent to 
Chaintrix; it is simpler to go on with post-horses. The 
king will wear a red coat, and will make himself known 
according to what the Due de Choiseul may tell him as to 
the good intentions of the troops. To avoid all suspicion, 
and aU excitement at Chalons the detachment for the bridge 
of Sommevesle should not get there till Tuesday at midday ; 
the king can be there by half -past two. 

I will write you again by the courier of to-morrow. The 
departure is fixed, unchangeably, for midnight on the 20th ; 
it is now too late to change it. Trust to me. I am much 
pleased with the Due de Choiseul. If all should fail he 
will be at Metz Friday morning ; if he is not there, you can 
start Sunday morning, and rely that they will start from 

8 



114 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OE [chap. iv. 

here Monday at midniglit. I will take measures to have 
you warned if the king should be stopped. There has been 
no way of getting rid of the maid without compromising 
secrecy. 

Count Fersen to the Marquis de BouilU, in cipher. 

June 14, 1791. 

Nothing is changed ; they start without fail Monday, 20th 
at midnight ; they will be at the bridge of Sommevesle, Tues- 
day, half-past two, at latest; you may count upon this. 
Have you reflected that Monsieur [the Comte de Provence] 
will arrive at the same time ? Can you lodge him at Mont- 
m^dy ; or else send him to Longwy ? If you could get me a 
room at Montm^dy you would do me a kindness. We have 
no answer as yet from the Comte de Mercy ; they have writ- 
ten him again to start the troops. 

Be certain that the start wiU be Monday, 20th, at midnight. 
Monsieur will take another route than the king. The gray 
horse is for you ; the little stallion for your brother, unless 
he prefers the bay ; the two others are for Goguelat. 

Count Fersen to his father, Field-Marshal Fersen. 

MoNS, June 22, 1791. 6 a.m. 
I have this instant arrived, my dear father. The king and 
the whole family left Paris safely on the 20th at midnight. 
I drove them to the first relay. God grant that the rest of 
their journey may have been as fortunate. I am expecting 
Monsieur here at every moment. I shall continue my way 
along the frontier to join the king at Montm^dy, if he is so 
fortunate as to get there. 

Axel Feesen. 



1791] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 115 

Count Fersen to Baron Taube. 

MoNS, June 22, 1791. 11 a.m. 

My deae Feiend, — The king, queen, Madame Elisabeth, 
the dauphin, and Madame Eoyale left Paris Monday at mid- 
night. I accompanied them to Bondy without any accident. 

I am this moment starting to meet them. 

Axel Feesen. 

Count Fersen to the King of Sweden. 

June 23, 1791. Midnight. 
SiEE, — All has failed. The king was stopped at sixteen 
leagues from the frontier and taken back to Paris. I am going 
to see M. de Mercy and take him a letter from the king, asking 
the emperor to take steps for him. From Brussels I shall 
go to see Y. M. 

I am, with the most profound respect, Your Majesty's 
very humble and very obedient servant, 
Axel Feesen. 

Count Fersen to his father. 

Aklon, June 23, 1791. 

All is lost, my dear father, and I am in despair. The 

king was stopped at Varennes, sixteen leagues from the 

frontier. Judge of my grief and pity me. It was M. de 

Bouill^, who is here, who told me of it. I am just starting 

for Brussels to take to M. de Mercy the letter and orders 

with which the king intrusted me. I have only time to 

assure you of my respect and love. 

Axel Feesen. 

From the Diary of Count Fersen. 

June 11, 1791. Saturday. Lafayette wanted to double 
the sentinels and look over all the carriages of the palace. 



116 DIAKY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. iv. 

Montmorin said, "That will be a bolt the more. I will 
not take upon myself to speak of it." 

12th, Sunday. Journey put off till 20th, cause a chamber- 
maid. Lafayette's case sent to com-t-martial. 

13 th, Monday. Oath for officers. They say the guard is 
to be doubled and all the king's carriages watched. 

16th, Thursday. Went to the queen at 9.30 ; carried all 
the luggage myself; nothing suspected; nor in the city. 
Oath for officers ; that will make many depart. 

17th, Friday. Went to Bondy and Bourget. Dined at 
home. 

18th, Saturday. With the queen from half-past two till 
six. Good letter from the emperor; they say the English 
fleet has sailed. 

19 th, Sunday. With the king. Took charge of eight hun- 
dred francs and the Seals. Kemained at the palace till 
midnight. 

20th, Monday. [The Diary for 20th is written in pencil, 
on detached pieces of paper, of which half are missing.] . . . 
remark, and asked what he wished to do. Both answered 
me that there was no hesitation ; they must go on. We 
agreed as to hours, etc., etc. ; if they were stopped I must go 
to Brussels and act for them, etc., etc. On leaving me the 
king said : " Monsieur de Fersen, whatever may happen to 
me, I shall never forget what you have done for me." The 
queen wept much. At sis o'clock I left her ; she went with 
the children to the gardens. No unusual precautions. I 
went home to finish my affairs. At seven to Sullivan's to 
see if the carriage had come. Went home. At eight wrote 
to the queen to change the rendezvous of the maids and 
instruct them carefully to let me know the exact hour by the 
body-guard. Carried the letter ; no excitement. At eight 
and three quarters the guards joined me and gave me 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 117 

the letter for Mercy. Instructed them ; went home ; sent on 
my own carriage ; gave them my coachman and horses to start 
with. Went to fetch the carriage. Thought I had dropped 
the letter for Mercy. At ten and a quarter in the Cour des 
Princes. At eleven and a quarter the children came out, 
brought without difficulty ; Lafayette passed twice ; at eleven 
and three quarters Madame Elisabeth, then the king, then 
the queen. At midnight started, joined the carriage at 
the Barri^re Saint-Martin. At half -past one reached Bondy ; 
there they took the post-road, I the cross-roads to Bourget. 

21st. Fine. All went well ; delay on the cross-road. The 
commandant of militia asked my name ; I was alarmed ; 
crossed the Quesnoy and came out by Saint-Vast. 

22d. Fine. Very cold last night. Beached Mons at six. 
Sullivan, Balbi, Monsieur, many Frenchmen very glad. A 
monk in the street asked me if the king was saved. Left at 
eleven ; plain as far as Namur, then mountains. Everybody 
glad the king had escaped. 

23 d. Fine weather, cold. Eeached Arlon eleven at night. 
Found Bouill^ ; learned the king was taken ; the details not 
well known. The detachments did not do their duty ; the 
king lacked firmness and head. Eested there. 

24th, Started half -past four in the morning ; fine. Every- 
body grieved that the king was taken. The French wanted to 
burn two villages near Longwy. Felt awful sadness. The 
whole country about Luxembourg in despair that the king was 
taken. What a change ! . . . Eeached Namur at midnight. 
Found Monsieur there. 

25th. Fine and warm. Started in the morning ; reached 
Brussels two hours after midday. Many Frenchmen lodged at 
the Hotel de Bellevue. Went to Comte de Mercy's house ; did 
not find him ; left the king's letter for him. Many persons 
came to question me. Talked with Mercy in the evening. 



118 DIARY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. iv. 

Eesolved to make an attempt to write. He sees black ; says, 
" Say nothing to the princes ; Monsieur ought to take charge 
of all. All must be done over again." No order given here, 
notwithstanding the two letters of the emperor to the queen ; 
he is a thorough Italian, that Leopold. 

26th. Fine and warm. At one o'clock went to the arch- 
duchess [Maria Christina, sister of Marie-Antoinette, Eegent 
of the Low Countries] ; very kind to me and much touched. 
Mercy spoke to Monsieur ; he is beneath the work he ought 
to do. 

27th. Fine and warm. Paid my court to the Comte 
d'Artois ; nothing said. Spoke to Monsieur ; he is very re- 
served and embarrassed. All that gives me a bad opinion of 
the state of things. People talk to me of the departure from 
Paris ; they know it was my doing, and they consider me 
much at Court. 



1791] 



COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 119 



CHAPTEK V. 

1791, Vain efforts to induce the European Powers to take steps in behalf 
of the King and Queen of France. — Gallant Proposal of Gustavus III., 
King of Sweden. 

[In July the King of Sweden sent Count Eersen to Vienna 
to negotiate with the emperor certain measures to facilitate 
a descent on Normandy which Gustavus III. desired to 
undertake with Swedish and Eussian troops, simultaneously 
with the efforts of the other Powers, for the purpose of res- 
cuing the royal family of France, and restoring the monarchy. 
According to the king's instructions Count Fersen was to 
request the emperor : (1) that the Kmg of Sweden be per- 
mitted to disembark his troops in the port of Ostend; 

(2) that facilities be given to obtain supplies and recruits ; 

(3) that an artillery siege train be lent to him. If Count 
Fersen found the emperor favourably inclined he was to try 
to make him recognize the King of Sweden as the leader 
of the league, and the one who was called upon to put 
the said project (of the descent on Normandy) into execution 
personally. 

Count Fersen reached Vienna August 2, 1771. The nego- 
tiation advanced very slowly, owing to the indecision of the 
Emperor Leopold, the ill-will of his ministers who were little 
inclined to lend any active succour to the King of France, 
and the intrigues of the princes, the Comte d'Artois and the 
Prince de Condd ; the former of whom went to Vienna with 
M. de Calonne to work in their own interests, and not in 
those of the King of France. Count Fersen, obliged to ac- 
company the imperial Court to Prague, where it went for the 



120 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. v. 

coronation of the emperor, returned to Brussels in October 
without having succeeded in his mission.] 

Diary. June 28th. Eine and warm. News from Paris 
of the king's return there. Barnave and Potion in their car- 
riage — what a horror ! No applause. Letter from Bouille, — 
bad; Crawford offers to go to England. The archduchess 
proposed to me to go to Vienna; accepted. The National 
Assembly usurps the executive power. The king in the con- 
dition of a prisoner. Talked with Comte d'Artois ; much won 
over, but light-headed and too hasty ; talked to me of wrongs 
done him in relation to the Baron de Breteuil, etc. ; said he 
was sure of England and Prussia ; complained of Mercy be- 
cause he will not march at once and compromise himself. 
Boasted of Calonne, who came in just as I was leaving. 

30th. Eeached Aix-la-Chapelle at 3.30. Saw the king 
[Gustavus III.], very well inclined. Wished me to go to 
England. Proposed Crawford for that, and myself for Vienna. 
Accepted. Warm feelings of all the Frenchmen to me ; I 
was touched by them. 

July 4. Brussels. Went to Mercy at five P. m. Letter 
from the queen. The emperor did send orders to march twelve 
thousand men to protect the king's escape. Very good 
memorial of Kaunitz to the emperor on the affairs of France. 
Dined with Sullivan. Conversation with Mme. de Lamballe ; 
gossip and nonsense. 

13th. The king and queen [of France] are not lost sight 
of a moment : all doors are kept open ; guards in the room 
adjoining the bedchamber. The doors are only closed for one 
moment while they put on their chemises ; as soon as they 
are in bed they are looked at, and several times during the 
night. Never alone. Cannot speak to each other unless in 
whispers. No one allowed to enter the palace except by 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 121 

tickets from Lafayette or the mayor. Grieved by the letter ; 
still, it may be well. 

17th. Started at midday; reached Aix-la-chapelle 18th at 
nine A.M., and Spa 19th at nine a.m. Alexandre Lameth, 
Barnave, Lafayette, Duport, Merreville have coalesced and 
separated from the Jacobins ; they have made overtures 
to Mercy through Pfere Laborde to get him to induce the 
king [of France] to come to an understanding with them ; 
Mercy told them strong truths. 

Found Crawford at home. Agreed together about what he 
should say in England ; we must know if that Power regards 
the continuation of anarchy in France as more advantageous 
than order ; representations should be made of the danger that 
will come to England itself through the disaffected. 

Orders positive and urgent from the emperor to succour 
the king. Writes very well of me ; says Kaunitz has an 
abstracted air in affairs, but is not so really. Agrees that we 
must absolutely exclude the princes, and that the whole 
affair must be negotiated between the foreign Powers, because 
of the intrigues among the persons who surround the princes ; 
says a congress should be formed to settle all. They talk 
openly at Coblentz of two parties : that of the queen, and that 
of d'Artois. 

21st. Presented Crawford to the king. Agreed upon 
everything. Dined with the king. Wrote the whole even- 
ing for him — a note in reply to questions. Talked with him. 
Bouille enters the Swedish service ; he talks, like all French- 
men, with much levity. 

2 2d. Sent Crawford off to England this morning. He 
hopes much. Gave him a letter for the king [of England] 
and one for Pitt, and a note from myself for the archduchess. 
Details from Paris from my man : dreadful. 

24th. I was despatched. Letter for the emperor, for 



122 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OE [chap. v. 

Kaunitz, instructions, copy of letters to Berlin; etc., etc.; 
started at 2 o'clock. 

25t}i. Keached Coblentz at 4.30. At 7 went to the 
princes. They breakfast at midday and dine at 7. Monsieur 
better than d'Artois. Eead the papers of the king to him. 

Comte dArtois wants no negotiation, only force without 
regard to dangers. Dissatisfied with the papers ; wants them 
suppressed ; full powers not necessary. Showed^him Breteuil's 
letter announcing 20,000 Spaniards, and 6 millions in Hol- 
land for the king at liberty. D'Artois said he knew all that. 
Monsieur showed signs of feeling ; d'Artois talks always, and 
never listens, — being sure of everything ; wants only force, 
no negotiations. Monsieur would do better alone, but is 
entirely subjugated by the other. Calonne is commg from 
Aix-la-Chapelle ; they asked me to wait for him. . . . Cond^ 
here, and a number of others. The princes want to dispose 
of all foreign forces, divide them, and appoint the general 
officers. They have sent for Broglie and Castries; the 
former will come ; doubtful if the other does, on account of 
Calonne. 

26th. "Wrote all the morning to Mercy, Taube, Crawford. 
At 4.30 to the princes to talk. Vaudreuil told them that 
Lafayette wished that the king and queen should be killed. 
Monsieur said : " I have no ambition for his esteem, but he 
must despise me very much to have such an idea." D'Artois 
proposed to stir up Paris with money. I opposed the idea 
from the danger of defection and a single bad agent. Pro- 
posed also, at the moment of the manifesto, safety and forget- 
fulness of the past to Lafayette, with permission to leave by 
any port in safety. Eeplied : that alone he was nothing ; the 
same thing must be offered to his companions, whoever they 
were; and besides, the means were not safe. They agreed. 
... I dined there ; much company ; the Elector of Treves, 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 123 

witli his sister, Princess Cun^gonde ; very good to the French. 
The elector defrays the expenses of the princes for their 
table, lodging, and horses ; he gives pensions to the priests 
and lodges the body-guard. 

At 8 o'clock news came that Calonne was overturned into 
the Ehine, his carriage lost, he saved by swimming ; why did 
he not stay there ! Arrived all wet at 9 o'clock. Comte 
d'Artois begged me to see him. He told me that he was 
sure of England and of her perfect neutrality ; that he had 
nothing in writing, but verbal promises from the king and 
his ministers ; that the Prince of Wales and members of the 
Opposition had told him that action should be taken at once 
because Pitt had refused to do anything. ... In short, he 
was sure that England would respond well if the other 
Powers took steps. 

27th. Started at 4.30 and reached Vienna August 2. 

August 2d. Looked for lodgings. Quantities of stran- 
gfers, especially Poles dissatisfied with the new government 
and with their throne being made hereditary. At 6 to the 
Prater to see Blanchard go up in a balloon : very good. Fine 
place, much company, superb drive along the Danube ; full 
of tea-gardens, very lively. 

3d. Dined with Bildt and Asp at Augarten, a pavilion 
belonging to the emperor, where he only breakfasts and dines ; 
the garden always open to the public ; fine establishment for 
dinners, — species of Vauxhall. Dined very well for two 
florins and a half. 

Vienna grand, especially the faubourgs ; much movement 
and magnificence, but that does not strike one as much. 

The emperor has forbidden the French ambassador, M. de 
Noailles, to appear at Court, his master being a prisoner ; a 
half-measure which is worth nothing. 

4th. At 11 o'clock went to the emperor; much company, 



124 DIARY AND COREESPONDENCE OE [chap. v. 

it was audience. I had written on the day of my arrival to 
Prince Eosenberg, the grand-master. No one was there to 
announce; two valets at the door, whom they called Kam- 
mer herren. At the end of half an hour they ushered me 
in. The emperor talked much and listened little. He 
asked : " Where is the king [of Sweden] ? Has he come 
away for important affairs ? what is his project ? what are 
his views ? " 

Fersen. The king's project is to furnish troops and 
vessels conjointly with the Empress of Eussia, with whom 
he has negotiated on this subject ; but as he cannot disem- 
bark in France he asks Your Majesty for the port of Ostend 
in which to disembark and leave his vessels. 

Emperor. Yes, but I am waiting for answers from the 
empress, to whom I have sent a courier ; and so I have to 
England ; I must be fully assured of the latter's neutrality 
— though she can't do anything else. 

Fersen. The princes charged me to tell Your Majesty 
that M. de Calonne assured them that England would be 
neutral ; he has just come from there. 

Emperor. Did you see him ? 

Fersen. Yes. 

Emperor. What did he say ? 

Fersen. That — etc., etc., etc. 

Emperor. But he is rather light-headed ; I know him ; 
I don't trust him much ; he believes so easily. 

Fersen. I think as you do; and for that reason M. 
Crawford has now been sent. 

Emperor. Ah ! I know him and his pretended Mme. Craw- 
ford. (Details about her.) He is a man of intelligence. 

Fersen. He is authorized to — etc., etc., etc. 

Emperor. Ah! that is very good; but we must first 
know what the King of England means to do as Elector of 



1791] COUNT AXEL FEKSEN. 125 

Hanover. I have urged the Diet to explain itself as to the 
project of the Elector of May ence, which is very reasonable. 
Naples is all right and will give vessels. The King of Sar- 
diiia gives all his troops, but there is excitement in his coun- 
try about the flight and arrest of the king ; I have sent into 
Italy on his frontier 10 battalions and a regiment of cavalry 
to ensure tranquillity. Prussia, and the King of Prussia per- 
sonally, are all right ; he has sent the men on furlough 
[semestricis] to their homes ; but he has kept the corps of 
Priace Hohenlohe to act on this side. I know that the 
King of Sweden has appealed to Hesse. 

Fersen. Yes, and to Bavaria. 

Emperor. That help will not be much — but it is 
always something. 

Fersen. Little as it is it will be increased ; and besides, it 
has an effect. 

Fmperor. There is a very bad man there ; I believe he 
has the spirit of the Assembly ; he commands the troops ; he 
is very bad. He is M. Johnson, an American ; but he can't 
do much. Spain is the one from whom we must expect 
least help ; not that she is ill-disposed, but she is in a bad 
state. Since the arrest of the king I have had no news 
from there. 

Fersen. I must inform Your Majesty of the answer 
made by Spain to the Baron de Breteuil, etc., etc. ; but this 
was m. case the king was at liberty ; perhaps it is changed 
now. 

Emperor. I do not think so; I know that Spain con- 
tinues to send troops to the Pyrenees ; but of eight regiments 
of cavalry she could only get together three thousand men ; 
she is raising ten thousand men in Switzerland, but on 
ridiculous conditions. There is not to be a single one that 
is not Catholic ! The Dutch consent to lend her money, but 



126 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. v. 

on ridiculous terms. They want her to put Corunna and 
Manila into their hands. She is trying to make a loan in 
Portugal, which holds out hopes to her. The declaration of 
Spain is as unmeaning as it can be ; one can't tell what it is ; 
it would have been better to say nothing. Naples gives 
vessels to go to the coasts of Provence, but the king 
cannot supply troops. I await the answers of Spain, Eng- 
land and Eussia before deciding; England is the most 
important. 

Fersen. I think, as Your Majesty does, that before under- 
taking anything we must, to ensure success, have a great 
concurrence of means, which shall impose respect and insure 
the individual safety of the king, the queen, and their family. 
Your Majesty must feel more than any one how very neces- 
sary that precaution is. 

Emperor. Yes, no doubt ; I feel it and I believe that 
nothing but an imposing force can save them ; all half-meas- 
ures are worth nothing ; we must not act before all is ready ; 
when that is so, a first proclamation must be made, then a 
second, in short, all that is necessary ; and after that we must 
act ; for threats without anything to carry them out only do 
harm. 

Fersen. I desire to render account to Your Majesty of 
the projects of the Comte d'Artois. He has one of sending 
persons to Paris with money to form a party. I have op- 
posed it with such and such reasons. 

Emperor. All that is of no use ; they are half-measures, 
petty schemes which can only do harm. 

After talking a little about the state of France I said : — 

" The archduchess is very much embarrassed in Brussels by 
this great influx of Frenchmen, especially officers. She 
fears that their presence will have an influence on the sol- 
diers, and may make them discontented." 



1791] 



COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 127 



Emperor. Oh, our men are of a different kind ; it would 
be very difficult to do that. Besides, if we ever saw the 
slightest sign of it we should immediately make a terrible 
example; when it is a question of discipline there is no 

venial fault. 

He did not ask me for details of the king and queen 
leaving Paris ; in fact he talked much and listened little. 

I left him and went to dine with Asp and Bildt at 
Schdnbrunn, a chateau about half a league from the town, 
where the empress often goes. It is a very large and long 
building, but in bad taste, backing on a hill which is made 
into a garden. At the top is a pavilion, where the chateau 
ought to have been placed. 

Went to see Kaunitz; a very extraordinary man, who 
alfects to be more extraordinary still; his wig was two 
inches from his eyebrows on all sides; red coat, black 
breeches, top-boots, for his sole mania is to ride daily in the 
riding-school. As he entered he distributed nods to all pres- 
ent, who seemed very eager to receive them. He is very deaf, 
but he assumes that no one perceives it. He dislikes per- 
fumes ; never takes the , fresh air ; when he crosses the court- 
yard at five or six o'clock, he holds his handkerchief before 
his mouth, and in spite of the great heat he keeps all the 
windows closed. He said very flattering things to me about 
my recommendations. I gave him the king [of Sweden] 's 
letter, which he put in his pocket without reading it. At 
the end of half an hour he began to ask me details about the 
king and queen [of France]. As there were many persons 
present, among them Baron d'Escars, I was very laconic 
and he did not press me. 

6 th. At six o'clock went to dine with Prince Kaunitz. 
I arrived too late to see him in the riding-school which is 
his sole passion ; he is vain of his riding, and it is a means 



128 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. v. 

of paying court to him. In summer he lives at his country- 
house, which is in the suburbs of Vienna. Madame de Clary, 
a little widow and his relation, does the honours. She is the 
echo of the prince ; when he speaks she repeats all he says. 
We sat down to table at half-past seven. Casanova, the 
painter, was there ; he is the sycophant of the prince, who is 
never in good humour unless he is with him. As the prince 
is very vain the painter flings flattery at his head in a dis- 
gusting manner ; but the other swallows it with delight. 
The latter talked very well at dessert on the affairs of 
France. He enunciates with clearness and precision, but 
slowly and methodically ; he listens to himself. One of his 
manias being that he cannot bear fresh air, all the windows 
were closed, notwithstanding the extreme heat. We did not 
leave the table till nine o'clock. He ate a great deal. He 
spoke insultingly of the French, whom, as a general thing, he 
does not like. 

9th. At 5.30 went to the riding-school to see Kaunitz. 
He kept strictly to the answer of the emperor, which he 
repeated at length and methodically. He seemed to doubt 
the sincerity of England, and dwelt on the necessity of being 
sure of her. He asked me what had been the project of the 
King of France, and what proposition he would have made to 
the Assembly had he escaped. I told him he would have 
based it on his declaration of June 23, which the prince could 
not remember. He made a note of this. He made a great 
eulogy on the King of Sweden, whom he called " Gustavus," 
and told me that the object of my mission seemed to him to 
present no difficulty, but that it was a secondary measure to 
take, after all the Powers had agreed. On the whole, it seems 
to me that the thing will be long delayed, and that no great 
warmth will be put into it. For that reason I should be 
glad to shorten my stay here, but I am afraid I shall be 



1791] COUNT AXEL EERSEN, 129 

obliged to go to Prague. Prince Kaunitz was extremely 
polite and obliging to me. 

14tli. Saw tbe emperor. He has received a long letter from 
the queen [his sister Marie-Antoinette] through M. de 
Noailles, in which she said that the Assembly was acting 
well and that they had nothing to fear except from those 
without. She ended by saying that he had only to " com- 
pare what she now wrote to him with what she had 
always written to him, and draw the necessary conclu- 
sions by which to act." The emperor concluded from that 
sentence that the letter was forced, and that she still wished 
for help. He seems decided to give it, — but with precautions 
to assure their safety from the canaille. He is awaiting the 
answer from Spain ; he has no doubt of that country's good- 
will, but much of her ability to act. The answer of England 
is good ; he seems satisfied with it, although it says nothing 
positive ; but it could not be otherwise. He does not doubt 
the Empress of Eussia. He said to me : — 

" They all say that they must see ; that the means must be 
agreed upon ; they want to be assured of payment, and how 
is it possible to assure them ? I see that they want some 
pledge ; but if they had it, would they return it ? For 
you know what is good to take is good to keep ; and I 
fear lest that should be their principle. They say, more- 
over, that they must have an answer from England. But 
I shall see the King of Prussia at Dresden, and learn his 
private sentiments, and then we may be able to take a 
course. Meanwhile I shall take advantage of this letter of 
the queen to reply to her through the same channel ; I shall 
pretend to think it safe and confidential and shall tell her 
certain truths, but the letter will be ostensible, it will be 
opened and read ; the opportunity is too good to lose. What 
do you think about it ? " 

9 



130 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap, v, 

Fersen. I think as you do, sire, that you had better 
profit by it, and appear to be the dupe of those fellows ; it is 
the system the king and queen have followed for some time, 
and it is the only one to adopt. 

The emperor then spoke of Comte d'Artois' scheme of 
offering a pardon to M. de Lafayette and Company. He did 
not seem to approve of that course. He seems to me to wish 
to act. I have made up my mind to go to Prague, and return 
to Brussels from there. 

Dined with Easumoffski. Count Bergen came after din- 
ner to tell us that Madame de Polignac had arrived. . . . 
Went to Madame de Polignac. She wept on seeing me. I 
felt pleasure and pain at seeing her. 

24th. Went to see the Duchesse de Polignac. She talks 
much of public affairs, and little of her friend. 

Prague, 29th. Prague is a very lively town ; many car- 
riages ; customary to go about the streets with four or six 
horses. 

31st. Declaration of the emperor and King of Prussia pretty 
good, but time is passing. Entry of the emperor into Prague 
at three o'clock. Eighty carriages with six horses ; those of 
the Court not very fine. Equipage of Prince Swartzenburg 
fine ; the others hideous ; those of the Court very shabby. 
Bourgoisie on horseback very good ; German guards in ex- 
traordinary red uniforms much befrogged, a long souhreveste 
[sleeveless outer coat] of black velvet braided ; they are not 
mounted, and on occasions like this the first regiment of 
carbineers lends them its horses. The prettiest was the 
Hungarian guard and the detachment of the carbineers and 
cuirassiers was superb ; so were the grenadier battalions 
formed from the different regiments. 

The Due and Duchesse de Polignac arrived at three o'clock. 

Prague, September 2d. Saw the emperor this morning. 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 131 

Met Polignac on my way. He showed me a manifesto of the 
princes in which they say that if the king is not set at 
liberty by the 15th of October in some frontier place in 
Hainaut, Alsace, or Franche-Comtd (where he must be 
guarded by foreign troops, not being able to rely on the 
French army until order be restored in France), Monsieur 
wiR then declare himself Regent, until the moment when the 
king is at liberty. Polignac told me he had just given a 
copy to the emperor, begging him to sign it ; but the emperor 
asked him to let him keep it, and said he would reply 
to-morrow. 

I asked the emperor for an answer respecting the port of 
Ostend, — saying that the King of Sweden was fully pre- 
pared to act, and was only awaiting the emperor's answer to 
start at once. 

Emperor. But they tell me the king wants to disembark 
at the Hogue. 

Fersen. I can assure Y. M. it is not so ; it would be im- 
possible without revictualling after so long a voyage. 

Emperor. Yes, yes, I understand: but the Empress of 
Eussia will ask the same thing ; I am expecting every day 
to hear from her. I must know whether her vessels are to 
come in separately from those of the King of Sweden ; after 
that we can arrange the whole thing together, 

Fersen. Will Y. M. permit me to see the answer of the 
King of Spain to Y. M. and to the King of Sweden ? 

Emperor. Yes, you can ask Count Coblentz for them. I 
will have a copy given to you. 

Fersen. I should like to send it to Sweden in case the 
courier from Spain should have been delayed. Besides, for 
all the arrangements with the King of Sweden I am pro- 
vided with full powers from the king and even with blank 
agreements in case Your Majesty desires to sign yourself. 



132 DIAKY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. v. 

Emperor. As for the item about Ostend there is no need 
of it; those are orders which must be given in the Low- 
Countries. 

Fersen. The king [of Sweden] desires as to that a written 
agreement. 

Emperor. Yes, but we must wait for the answer from 
Eussia. 

Fersen. Has the Due de Polignac shown Your Majesty 
the draft of a manifesto ? 

Emperor. Yes ; I do not approve of it. 

Fersen. I think Y. M. is right. Any step whatever taken 
before the troops are ready is harmful. The idea of the 
regency is also harmful ; and will furnish a pretext to turn 
against the princes by making it believed that they wish to 
seize the government and put the king under guardianship. 
None but imbeciles will think they act for the king in act- 
ing for the princes. The project of having him guarded by 
foreigners will never succeed. 

5 th. Wrote to the queen. Saw Coblentz in the morning. 
He gave me copies of the letters of Spain, the demands of 
the Comte dArtois and the answers, the declaration of Spain 
to Paris, and that of the emperor with the changes made by 
Spain ; all this confirms them more and more in the idea of 
a congress, to shorten the affair and settle everything. He 
liked my idea of insisting on the liberty of the king and 
fixing the place to which he should then go, without entering 
upon any detail of the Constitution or any negotiation with 
the Assembly. He told me that in the declaration sent to 
the Courts it was proposed to recall all the ambassadors from 
France and assemble them in congress at Aix-la-Chapelle. I 
asked if that proposition had been sent to Sweden. He 
answered, after a moment, that he was not sure, but would 
ask and let me know ; whereby I saw that it had not been 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 133 

sent. There is great slowness. He told me that the King 
of Prussia had been against a congress, and wanted every- 
thing negotiated in Vienna by the ambassadors now there. 
Also that the King of Prussia advised no immediate action ; 
but previous consultation as to the declarations that ought 
to be made. 

6th. Coronation of the emperor in the chapel of Saiut- 
Wenceslas in the castle; smalljnot fine, no preparations to 
make the f^te beautiful. Ceremony lasted from 8 a. m. to 11 
o'clock. The Archbishops of Prague and Olmiitz officiated ; 
he of Prague put on the crown , every one applauded and 
cried, " Viva ! " — little order. They dined in the Salle du 
Serment — the emperor under a dais. After he had drunk, 
the company sat down to the other tables of which there were 
twelve, of twelve covers each. I was not at the dinner, but 
I went to see it from the gallery with Prince Hohenlohe, the 
Prussian general. I was rather displeased at not being at 
the dinner. As a general thiug, foreigners receive little 
attention here. 

General Hohenlohe comes on the part of the King of 
Prussia [Frederick-William] to concert a plan of operations 
and urge the emperor to act ; the king is all ready. They 
want to go too fast and do not really know the situation in 
France, but this may hasten the emperor a little. Hohenlohe 
is a great man, solely military ; from his talk I see that the 
animosity between the two countries still exists. He spoke 
to me with disdain of the Austrian troops; nevertheless, 
they are fine. He told me he was empowered to make 
proposals for marching the Prussian troops ; that his master 
was ready ; that he would do nothing that the emperor did 
not do at the same moment ; that he had given half a million 
of florins to Comte d'Artois ; that Bischoffswerder was charged 
in Italy to make proposals to the emperor to cede to the 



134 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. v. 

Elector Palatine certain districts in Alsace; to Prussia, 
Bergue and Juliers and something in Hainaut; that the 
emperor had refused; but the matter ought now to be re- 
vived, as it would be a means to make the emperor bestir 
himself in behalf of the king and queen, if he meant to act. 
I saw in all this Prussian intrigues and the distrust which 
exists between the two Courts. They want to make a mere 
intrigue of this matter. 

7th. Went to see Hohenlohe. He wants the King of 
Sweden, on the reply of Spain, to start for Ostend without 
awaiting any answer from the emperor. Dined with Polignac ; 
he has nothing with him but his silver service and his cook. 
Hohenlohe came there ; he had dragged nothing out of the 
emperor, whom he saw at midday ; he told him all the tales 
and intrigues that I had told him of Calonne, Conde, and the 
hatred of the princes for Breteuil and the rest of us ; he said 
the queen was against them and disapproved of them. All 
this he repeated before Polignac. Fortunately he did not 
quote me; he is amazingly indiscreet; nothing should be 
told to him. 

9th. Went to the emperor at midday ; I was ushered in at 
once before every one. The emperor spoke to me like a man 
decided to act at once ; but results do not follow speech. I 
cannot understand it. He seems to feel the advantage it 
would be to the tranquillity of the Low Countries, Normandy, 
and the Mouth of the Seine to have the Swedish and Eus- 
sian troops land at Ostend ; in fact, it was he who said so to 
me. 

10th. Dined at Court ; one hundred and four persons at 
table ; not very magnificent. The emperor told me he had 
received a letter from the queen through Mercy, asking that 
the Powers should act, but cautiously, and without the 
princes ; she said she feared — as we supposed — that the 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 135 

Assembly was alarmed and had decided to do something and 
employ force, and was about to issue orders, I said : " Your 
Majesty, it would be well to frighten it." " No, no," he re- 
plied, " we must act." 

Went to a ball and concert at Czernin's; superb; house 
magnificent, a perfect palace ; eight hundred persons at sup- 
per at little tables. The empress spoke to me very well. 
The Archduchess Marianne, who is abbess here, told the am- 
bassadress of Spain that her father talked well, but she feared 
he would do nothing. 

13th. Went to the ball at Kolowrath's at half-past eight. 
Talked with the emperor. 

Emperor. T received your paper, and I think it very 
good. 

Fersen. I thought that it expressed the result of the views 
of Y. M. and all that you did me the honour to say to me. 

Emperor. Yes, yes ; perfectly right. 

Fersen. I believe that a congress unsupported by troops 
will have no effect ; the object is to awe them. 

Emperor. Yes, yes, no doubt ; and I have already given 
orders for two regiments of cavalry and several battalions to 
march to the Brisgau ; the requisitions will be sent at once ; 
that will have an effect ; and the recall of the ambassadors 
will have more. 

Fersen. I am told that Y. M. has received the answer of 
the Empress of Eussia. 

Emperor. Yes, but not the one by my courier. The letter 
of the empress is good ; she proposes a congress, the recall of 
the ambassadors, and a declaration of the stoppage of all 
communications and commerce with France. 

Fersen. Yes, but that concerns only the maritime Powers. 
England might do it, and that is another reason why she 
should be pledged to neutrality. 



136 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. v. 

Emperor. Yes, yes, I understand ; it would be very ad- 
vantageous to her, and have a great effect on the commerce 
of France and on the financiers. 

Fersen. What would really have a great effect in the 
king's favour would be the ability to reassure the country as 
to bankruptcy ; at any rate as to that of the annuities [rentes 
viageres] and the redemption of assignats. He would then 
have on his side all the capitalists and bankers ; it is they 
who made the revolution or helped to consolidate it ; they 
are very much dissatisfied ; they fear bankruptcy ; and I am 
certain that if they are reassured as to that they will be for 
the king. 

Emperor. Yes, but that is very difficult ; and if the bank- 
ruptcy occurs it will be general. 

Fersen. I do not think the operation so difficult. At the 
time the king left Paris, his project was to begin by reassur- 
ing the country as to the payment of the annuities in full by 
reducing the agiotage [traffic with the public funds] and the 
onerous loans to a reasonable rate ; also, when returning to the 
clergy their property to saddle it with paying off the assi- 
gnats ; this was possible, and their property would still have 
been sufficient to furnish several millions ; but the Assembly 
can never derive as much from it. 

Emperor. Oh ! I know that ; for this very day I have a 
parallel affau' in a convent reformed by the late emperor : in 
order to give eight or nine old women pensions amounting to 
six thousand florins there is a cost of eleven thousand florins 
in administrating the property ; it is bad economy. That idea 
of the king was very good, and would have had great effect. 

Fersen. Would Your Majesty, in consequence of the 
empress's letter, decide about the king's troops and the port 
of Ostend ? 

Emperor. I must wait for another courier, which the 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 137 

empress informs me will arrive in two or three days, giving 
me in detail what she intends to send. I imagine that she 
wants to concert about that with the King of Sweden, and 
let me know the result. 

Fcrsen. It is important that the matter be decided as 
quickly as possible, for the season is advancing, and if the 
troops do not start this autumn, they cannot arrive before 
June or July of next year. 

Em^peror. Yes, yes, I understand ; it would be better if 
they were there ; no harm will come of that ; and if they are 
there, there will be no waiting for them. 

He seemed to agree with me about it, and to desire to act. 
Were he alone it might be done ; but he has not the force 
to resist his council ; Baron Spielmann and the others are 
against it. Nevertheless, the conversation gave me some 
hope. 

16th. Count Coblentz tells me that the answer of the Em- 
press of Eussia is very favourable ; she encourages the emperor 
to act. As to Ostend, he told me that vessels of war cannot 
enter that port ; the merchantmen are obliged to wait for the 
tide, and when it is low they lie on their sides ; that the sea- 
son was far too advanced to send troops this year ; moreover, 
we must know what England and Holland would say to 
the arrival of a fleet in that port. — I see clearly that they 
are dragging things along purposely to prevent the King of 
Sweden from sending troops this year ; they fear his activity, 
and also that he may command in person; they want to 
avoid acting, or else to act alone if it becomes necessary. 
Nothing is being done ; the requisitions have not been sent, 
although they assure me the troops are to march at once. 

They are all agreed that the congress must be an armed 
one; but they are losing time awaiting replies and doing 
nothing positive. The emperor is inclined to act, and wishes 



138 DIAEY AND CORKESPONDENCE OF [chap. v. 

it, but Ms ministry hold him back. He is afraid ; he feels 
about him ; he does not venture to act, and the work will be 
harder in the end. — He hopes to gain all by getting over the 
winter. — My conversation with Count Coblentz has made me 
lose heart. I see a well-formed plan to do only trifling 
things during the winter ; to try to patch up matters for the 
time being, and not to act until spring, and not then unless 
it is absolutely necessary. This is very shameful and dread- 
ful towards the queen. 

17th. Eeceived a despatch from Sweden. It seems that 
the empress will act only indirectly ; this will delay opera- 
tions very much, and all hopes of acting this year is lost 
for the king [of Sweden] . The assembling of the congress 
and the preliminary declarations will take all winter ; we 
shall be lucky if we obtain the right to support it with 
troops. 

18th. Prince Hohenlohe came to see me this evening. 
He had talked a long time with Baron Spielmann, who told 
him that the emperor would raise the number of his troops 
in the Low Countries to fifty-eight or sixty thousand men, 
that he could then act with thirty, or thirty-two thousand of 
them ; but first, he must await the reply of England. He 
added that an army would be raised from the German States ; 
that the intention was not to form tUes-d' armies to support 
the congress ; that the first thing necessary was to know what 
reply the King of France would make about sanctioning the 
Constitution ; if he accepts it, there will be difficulty in act- 
ing; there will then be new inquiries to make of all the 
Courts, to know if they recognize the sanction of the king as 
free or compulsory ; that it would be only after all this that 
any action could be taken ; that the season was already too 
late, and nothing could be undertaken till the spring. 

21st. Saw the emperor. Communicated the reply of Eng- 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 139 

land. He thouglit it good. Was of my opinion on every- 
thing, and sent me away as soon as possible. The whole 
matter embarrasses and annoys him. He told me that the 
King of Prussia writes to him to place no confidence in 
Prince Hohenlohe, who is not charged with any mission. 
Never have I seen an affair conducted as this has been ! I 
am not surprised that it goes so badly. 

25th. News that the king [of France] has sanctioned the 
Constitution. — There are terrible intrigues at the Court here, 
as everywhere. The Archduchesses Theresa and Marianne are 
strongly for France; the empress and all the sub-orders 
against it; the emperor is weak and indiscreet. All sorts 
of tales are told of the French, many invented. The arch- 
duchess in Brussels writes against them. The emperor tells 
all this. They say that the queen is letting Barnave lead 
her ; that she holds back the emperor ; that she is against 
the princes. All goes ill, 

26th. Took leave of the emperor; he agreed that the 
King of France was not free ; that it was necessary to insist 
on his liberty ; that it was fortunate he had sanctioned the 
Constitution without restrictions, as that showed it was under 
compulsion. In the evening he said to another person that, 
now that the king had sanctioned the Constitution, there was 
nothing more to be done ! This is just what I feared. 

28th. Started at five o'clock in the evening, enchanted to 
get away. 

Cohlentz, October 3d. Eeached Coblentz at five o'clock. 
Went to the princes. They said they had excellent news ; 
march of Austrians and Prussians to the number of twelve 
thousand men, etc., etc. I denied it all, and they would 
hardly believe me. The crowd of French officers at Coblentz 
is enormous and alarming ; they arrive more than ever, by 
hundreds ; even bourgeois are among them. The princes are 



140 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. v. 

forming corps, restoring red companies, etc. Mar^clial de 
Broglie is living here. The princes have a numerous Court ; 
the intrigues diabolical. The princes dined at nine o'clock ; 
there was much company. Everybody came to ask me for 
news ; which I did not give them, to their astonishment. I 
started after dinner and slept at Andernach; I gave the 
difficulty of finding lodgings as an excuse for getting away. 
The follies that this assemblage may commit are incalcu- 
lable. When they have spent all their money they had 
much better be in France. The Prince of Nassau keeps 
them in great state ; the empress gave them two millions, 

Brussels, 6th. Eeached Brussels at six in the morning. 
Saw Mercy ; the queen writes to him that the king must go 
a little by the Constitution ; the princes must be checked ; 
she asks for the calling of a congress, the pretext to be 
Avignon. Mercy thinks a congress useless at this moment ; 
for he does not see what it would find to do ; it cannot give 
the lie to the king as to the Constitution. I proved to him 
its utility, and the necessity of some ostensible step being 
taken in order to check the princes. He agreed to suggest 
to the emperor to ask for its announcement at once ; and 
also for the selection of place and members, — the object 
to be Avignon. He spoke very well; but thought that 
nothing could be done (the king having accepted the 
Constitution) except to wait until the new legislature 
committed follies which would give the Powers a pretext 
for interfering. 

7th. The princes sent Cazal^s and Burke's son to per- 
suade Baron de Breteuil to go to Coblentz; he refused. 
Quantities of Frenchmen here ; they pass the frontier by the 
fifties daily. The Due d'Uzfes is their leader in Brussels. 
They are all mad. 

15th. Du Moustier passed through and saw the Baron de 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 141 

Breteuil. He said that the King of Prussia in a conversa- 
tion he had with him (in which he asked H. M. what he was 
to say to the king [of France] as to his intentions) answered, 
laying his hand on his sword, that he would help him with 
all his forces ; that he was ready, but the emperor stopped 
him ; that he would march 50,000 men if the emperor would 
march as many; that he was keeping 12,000 men on a war 
footing ready to march at once, and the rest should follow. 
Du Moustier having told him that he had a plan of finance 
by which to bring coin back to France and save the king 
all embarrassments as to money, but in order to do this he 
needed a credit of one hundred millions in ecus, and hoped 
to obtain it from him, the king replied that if the money 
were wanted for that object he would lend it to the king on 
sufficient security and fixed dates for repayment. 

Baron de Breteuil represented to him that he ought not to 
speak of that project until the king recovered full power. 
He agreed, and seemed decided to serve him ; but he, du 
Moustier, is a rascal on whom no great dependence should 
be placed. 

18th. La Marck arrived ; I went there ; he made me an 
apology for his conduct, saying that he had done nothing 
except with a view to serve the king ; that was the motive 
of his intimacy with Mirabeau ; he said that in the month of 
October, 1789, he had made Mirabeau make the plan for the 
counter-revolution ; that he had seen Monsieur clandestinely, 
and had read and given the plan to him ; that the basis of 
this plan was the king's departure for Beauvais. He said 
shocking things of the French nation. He has bought a 
house here ; he will not be looked upon favourably ; but if 
he gives good dinners every one will go to them. 

23d. Mercy gave me a letter from the queen; he de- 
ciphered to me four or five lines. 



142 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. v. 

29tli. Saw the Princesse de Lamballe, who started to 
return to Paris. 

Novemler 13th. M. de Mercy now says that he thinks the 
emperor will accept the congress, and that this is the result 
of the conduct of Sweden and Kussia. On the other hand, 
they sent me word from Vienna that the emperor will do 
nothing, and I believe it. The Duke of York says that the 
King of Prussia is sincerely for us, but that he cannot act 
without the emperor ; and the duke thinks the latter means 
to do nothing. 

15th. The King of France has not sanctioned the decree 
against the emigres ; he used his veto. This has caused agita- 
tion ; evil minds are exciting the populace. The king will 
lose in this way the little popularity that he has, and wiU 
be again where he was in April ; they may prevent him from 
riding on horseback ; great commotions are expected in Paris, 
and a crisis. Lafayette will be mayor through the ascen- 
dency of the Guard, which, being unable to have him as 
general, is determined to have it thus. He will then have 
great and very dangerous power. Letters from Paris are 
terrifying; the newspapers are as incendiary as ever, and 
point to the probable flight of the king in order to inspire 
distrust. The "Journal G^ndral," published by the Abb^ 
Pontenay, an aristocrat, says frightful things against Breteuil, 
Mercy, and Thugut, and warns them not to attempt the flight 
of the king. This article was certainly written in Coblentz. 
It is abominable ! 

18 th. Finished my great letter to the queen, 

20th. Went to Mercy. He gave me a letter from the 
queen ; they are very unhappy, but wish to act. 

December 6th. M. Luisey has arrived from Berlhi. Says 
the emperor has written to Prussia and Eussia to prevent 
them from doing anything; that he wants to ally himself 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 143 

with Prussia and Holland and invite England to join them 
— which she will not do ; that Prussia is very right towards 
France, but will not act without the emperor. 

10th. Baron de Viomesnil, a poor negotiator, is going to 
Cologne and Coblentz to commission the Marquis de Castries 
to be the king's man in the council of the princes. A false 
step. The queen is now very sorry to have sent him ; my 
letter arrived too late to prevent it. He came to see me this 
morning ; I was tempted to prevent his going on, but I dared 
not, because they would have thought it was by agreement 
with Baron de Breteuil, whom they would then have accused 
of getting rid of every one in order to have sole control him- 
self of affairs. In the conference I had with Viomesnil at 
Breteuil's house I proposed changes in what the former was 
to say, which weakened his commission and made it as little 
important as possible. It is to be hoped that Castries will 
not agree to go. Viomesnil wished, not being able to agree, 
that Calonne should go away. I opposed it, ostensibly 
under pretext that it would be dangerous in view of the 
nobles, but really because the king would then be obliged to 
correspond directly with the princes, which he cannot do 
without compromising himself, because of their indiscretion. 
There is no danger; they cannot act without the Northern 
Powers ; and it is better to let them be guided by them. 



144 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vi. 



CHAPTEE VI. 

1791. Correspondence of Queen Marie- Antoinette with Count Fersen. — 
Official Letters of the same Period, showing the vain EfEorts employed to 
induce the Powers to act in behalf of the King of France and his Family. 

[During the time already noted in the Diary, letters were 
passing between Queen Marie-Antoinette and Count Fersen, 
in his capacity of intermediary between the King and Queen 
of France, the King of Sweden, and the Courts of Europe. 
The chief object of their hopes and efforts was to convoke 
an armed congress, to meet either at Frankfort on the Main 
or at Aix-la-Chapelle, and awe by that means the National 
Assembly. Eleven letters from the queen and ten from 
Count Fersen in 1791 (also seventeen from the queen and 
twenty-two from Fersen in 1792) sfciH exist as a testimony 
to the count's last efforts for the expiring monarchy. Nearly 
all these letters were written in cipher or with " white ink " 
— invisible ink ; sometimes in both. They were deciphered 
and copied by Count Fersen himself, and are now at Stock- 
holm in possession of his family. Among these papers is a 
memorial, dated November 26, 1791 (called by the count in 
the foregoing diary " my great letter to the queen"), in which 
he explains to her the political situation of Europe as re- 
garded the affairs of France, suggests a plan of conduct for 
the king and queen, and advises the writing by them of cer- 
tain personal letters to friendly Courts asking them to guard 
Their Majesties' interests. This plan was adopted. 

Other letters of the same period, explanatory of current 
events, are here interpersed with those of the queen.] 



1791] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 145 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie- Antoinette. 

Bkussels, June 27, 1791. 
The dreadful event which has just happened [king and 
family stopped at Varennes and virtually imprisoned] wO 
change entirely the course of affairs, and if the resolution is 
persisted in to let others act (no longer being able to act 
personally), it is necessary to begin the negotiations over 
again and to give full powers for that purpose. The mass of 
Powers who may be brought to act must be sufficiently strong 
to awe, and thus preserve the precious lives. Here are ques- 
tions to which answers should be made : — 

1. Is it desired that they should act in spite of all prohibi- 
tions that may be received ? 

2. Is it desired to give the fuU powers to Monsieur, or to 
the Comte d'Artois ? 

3. Is it desired that they shall employ under them the 
Baron de Breteuil, or do they consent to M. de Calonne, or 
do they leave the choice to them ? 

Here is the form for the full powers : — 

" Being detaiaed a prisoner in Paris, and not being able to 
give the necessary orders to re-establish order in my king- 
dom, restore to my subjects happiness and tranquillity, and 
recover my legitimate authority, I charge Monsieur, or, in 
default of him, the Comte d'Artois, to watch for me over my 
interests and those of my crown, giving him for this purpose 
unlimited powers; I pledge my royal word to keep relig- 
iously and without restrictions all the stipulated engage- 
ments which may be made with the said Powers ; and I bind 
myself to ratify, as soon as I am at liberty, all treaties, con- 
ventions, and other compacts made by him with the different 
Powers who may be wiQing to come to my defence ; also all 
commissions, brevets, and posts which Monsieur may have 

10 



146 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vi. 

thought necessary to give ; and to this I pledge myself on 
the word of a king. Done in Paris, this twentieth day of 
June, 1791." 

This form should be written in white ink and given as 
soon as possible to the person bearing this letter. As the 
number of the above questions has been kept, the answers 
can be very brief. 

I am very well treated here. Your sister [Archduchess 
Marie-Christine] ehstien [?] for you and for me. 

Qiieen Marie- Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

June 28, 1791. 
Be reassured about us ; we live. The leaders of the As- 
sembly seem to wish to be gentle in their conduct. Speak 
to my relatives of steps to be taken outside. If they are 
frightened, we must compound with them [il faut composer 
avec eux~\. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

June 29, 1791. 
I exist. . . . How uneasy I have been about you, and how 
I pity you for having no news of us ! Heaven grant that this 
letter may reach you. Do not write to me ; that would only 
expose us ; above all, do not come here under any pretext. 
It is known that it was you who took us out of here ; all 
would be lost if you appeared here. "We are kept in sight 
night and day; I do not care. ... Be easy; nothing will 
happen to me. The Assembly means to treat us gently. 
Adieu. ... I cannot write to you again. . . . 

The King of Sweden to Louis XVI. 

Aix-la-Chapblle, June 30, 1791. 

I beg Y. M. not to doubt the feelings with which we all 
share your misfortune. Your friends will never abandon 



1791] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 147 

you. Sustain your present position with firmness, as you 
have already sustained the dangers that surround you ; above 
aU, do not allow them to degrade the royal dignity in your 
person, and the kings will come to your support. This is 
the advice of your oldest ally and your most faithful friend. 

Powers given ly Louis XVI. to Monsieur and the Comte 

d'Artois. 

Paris, July 7, 1791. 

I rely absolutely on the tenderness of my brothers for me, 
on their love and attachment to their country, on the friend- 
ship of the sovereign princes my relations and allies, and on 
the honour and generosity of the other sovereigns, to agree 
together as to the manner of, and the means to be used for, 
negotiating, the object of which should tend to the re-estab- 
lishment of order and tranquillity in the kingdom ; but I 
think that all employment of force . . . ^ that, placed be- 
hind negotiations, I give all power to my brothers to nego- 
tiate in that sense with whom they will, and to choose the 
persons to employ for these political purposes. 

Louis. 
Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

July 8, 1791. 

The king thinks that the close imprisonment in which he 
is held and the state of total degradation to which the Na- 
tional Assembly has reduced royalty, allowing it to exercise 
no action whatever, is sufficiently known to Foreign powers 
to need no mention here. 

The king thinks that it is by negotiations alone that their 
help can be useful to him and to his kingdom ; that all 
show of force should be secondary, and only in case all 
means of negotiation be refused here. 

1 Wherever these omissions occur in the letters it means that the parts 
omitted were either lost or undecipherable. — Tr. 



148 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vi. 

The king thinks that open force, even after a first declar- 
ation, would be of incalculable danger, not only to him and to 
his family, but even to all Frenchmen in the interior of the 
kingdom who do not think in agreement with the revolu- 
tion. There is no doubt that a foreign force could enter 
France, but the people, armed as they are, leaving the fron- 
tiers and the foreign troops, would instantly turn their arms 
against those of their co-citizens whom they have been in- 
cessantly taught during the last two years to regard as their 
enemies, and above all. . . . 

The king thinks that unlimited full powers such as pro- 
posed, even if dated on the 20th of June, would be danger- 
ous for him in the position he is now in. It is impossible 
that they should not be communicated ; and all cabinets are 
not equally discreet. 

It is announced that during the next fifteen days the 
articles called constitutional will be presented to the king ; 
that he will then be set at liberty, and be left master of going 
where he pleases, in order that he may decide whether to 
accept them, yes or no ; but by keeping his son in Paris they 
make this illusory. All that has been done during the last 
two years must be considered null as regards the king's will, 
but impossible to change so long as the majority of the 
nation desire these novelties. It is to change this spirit 
that all our attention must be turned. 

Summary : He desires that the captivity of the king be 
fully stated and known to the foreign Powers; he desires 
that the good-vdll of his relatives, friends, and allies, and that 
of other sovereigns who may wish to concur, be manifested 
by a species of congress, at which the method of negotiation 
shall be adopted, understanding always that an imposing 
force be there to support it, but always sufficiently in the 
background not to provoke to crime and massacre. 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 149 

It is important that the Baron de Breteuil be united with 
the king's brothers and with those they may select for these 
important negotiations. 

The king does not think he ought to give unlimited powers ; 
but he sends the enclosed paper, written in white ink, to be 
given to his brothers. [See foregoing.] 

We dare not answer the King of Sweden. Be our inter- 
preter to him of our gratitude and attachment. 

The King of Spain to the King of Sweden. 

Madkid, August 3, 1791. 
MONSIEUE, my brother and cousin : 

If things were still in the state in which they were six 
months ago, I should not delay a moment in accepting the 
plan which Y. M. has sent me in your letter of July 16, 
and in concurring therewith by every means in my power. 
But to-day circumstances have changed so much that there 
is far more need for reflection, prudence, and sagacity than 
for active force in favour of Louis XVI. That sovereign 
might be sacrificed to popular fury on the point of being 
placed by those who have torn his liberty from him in a 
safe and free place, where he may accept and sanction the 
reformed code of constitutional laws which will be presented 
to him, or else reject it wholly or in part. If that were to 
take place it would then be the proper time to sustain him 
in order that his subjects may submit to the modifications 
their king will make in it [the Constitution] ; and Y. M. may 
count on my assistance, pecuniary especially, as far as my 
possibilities can go. 

Meantime it would be useless to undertake a war against 
a nation enthusiastic for its apparent liberty and seduced 
against its monarch, and the life of that prince would be ex- 
posed to the greatest dangers. Armed conquerors, whoever 



150 DIAEY AND COREESPONDENCE OF [chap. vi. 

they be, can only possess the territory they occupy; the 

people and the misled multitude being their enemies, they 

must exterminate them and ruin the country.^ Time must 

be given to clear understanding, after all that has been lost 

without my yet obtaining a clear answer from the Powers to 

whom I disclosed my intentions. I formed a plan according 

to the circumstances of the month of April when there was, 

even then, few resources; I communicated it, but I have 

been unable to learn any result. At present, the plan of 

escape of the Very Christian King having failed, and the 

general aversion of the French for monarchy being still more 

heated than in the beginning, it is absolutely necessary to 

await calmness and the effects of negotiation for his liberty, 

and the re-establishment of his power. 

It is thus that I understand the matter, and say it plainly 

to Y. M., whose ideas in themselves, even if they be not 

realized, will obtain for you an immortal glory and make 

you worthy of eternal gratitude, not only from the Bourbons, 

but from all the sovereigns and even from humanity itself 

ever interested in the maintenance of society and legitimate 

authority. I forestall them to thank Y. M. in their name, 

and to assure you of the constant and cordial friendship with 

which I have the honour to be. Monsieur, my brother and 

cousin, 

Your Majesty's good brother, cousin, and friend, 

Chakles (IV). 

After writing this letter, I have received one from the 
emperor, in which he expresses ideas that agree with ours. I 
beg Y. M. to come to an understanding and concert with H. 
I. M., to whom I will propose and request the same. 

1 This autograph letter is translated literally as it stands in the French ; 
the wording is obscure, though the meaning is tolerably plain. Royal per- 
sonages were very deficient in the art of writing — and spelling. — Tr. 



1791] COUNT AXEL EERSEN. 151 

Oilie King of Siveden to Count Fersen. 

Deottningholm, August 5, 1791. 

M. de Calonne arrived tlie day after your departure [for 
Vienna]. I Kad a conversation of four hours with him, the 
details of which would be too long and useless to send to 
you. The news from England alone seems to me important. 
He brings a letter from the King of England to the princes, 
in answer to one which Comte d'Artois wrote to him. The 
King of England expresses himself with the utmost feeling 
about the affairs of France. As to succour, M. de Calonne 
annoimces none. Nevertheless, he let it be seen that the 
king and even the Prince of "Wales (who on this point agrees 
with his father) give some hopes of Hanoverian troops. But 
M. de Calonne positively assured me that the King of Eng- 
land, and even Mr. Pitt promise the strictest neutrality, and 
the latter added that if he took part in the cause of the 
princes, it would do harm, because the Opposition would 
take the contrary view, and it was therefore more useful to 
the good of the thing that the King of England should be 
neutral. This language seems to me that of truth, and if the 
English disposition is really such our emissary will have no 
trouble in passing. 

Postscript : Since writing the above I have received letters 
from Petersburg in which they tell me that the first news of 
the disaster of the King of France made the greatest impres- 
sion on the empress. She received the news in the midst of 
the fgte which was given on the anniversary of her succes- 
sion. The Prince of Nassau is working with all his strength 
to obtain succour ; but neither my despatch to Baron Stedingk 
[Swedish ambassador to Eussia] nor my memorial, sent July 
6 from Aix, had arrived before the departure of the letters. 
You know already that the empress has surmounted all 



152 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vi. 

obstacles, and the allies have yielded everything to her. 
This, joined to the victories won by the Eussians in the 
Caucasus over the grand-vizier, make peace almost certain. 
That will give Eussia more ability to aid France. Neverthe- 
less, it seems to me essential that you should engage the em- 
peror to warmly promote the success of my negotiation with 
Eussia. . . . that the orders given to the ambassador from 
Sweden in Paris. . . . she tells me she will write to Vienna 
to induce the emperor to give the same to his minister in 
Paris. I think it necessary that you should know all these 
circumstances, so as to compare them with the notions which 
you yourself obtain in Vienna, and regulate your proceedings 
accordingly. 

Your very affectionate 

GUSTAVUS. 

Count Fersen to the King of Sweden. 

Vienna, August 17, 1791. 
The emperor is still awaiting the answer from Spain. H. 
I. M. seems to be less doubtful of the good incliuations of 
the King of Spain and his willingness to act than of his 
means and the possibility of making them effective. The 
answer of England, though not positive, seems to him good. 
He does not doubt the sentiments of Y. M. and the Empress 
of Eussia ; but he does not seem well assured of the sincerity 
of those of the King of Prussia ; he thinks there is more 
demonstration of eagerness than of will to act. He told me 
that the king seemed to wish to be reimbursed for his out- 
lays, and to know how and by whom it would be done ; and 
the emperor fears he will ask to be put in possession of some 
lien on lands [hyjpoth^que'], which later he could not be 
made to give up. This does not agree with what M. 
Bischoffswerder [envoy of the King of Prussia to settle 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 153 

terms of treaty with the emperor] told me on the evening 
before his departure. He repeated to me how much his 
master desired the emperor to act, and for that purpose he 
was keeping on a war footing the corps of Prince Hohenlohe, 
the garrison of Magdebourg, and the troops in Westphalia. 
As for the reimbursement of the outlay such an expedition 
would occasion, the object, he said, was in itself too impor- 
tant for such considerations to stop it or delay it, and the 
treaty which had just been signed ought to reassure the 
emperor as to the intentions of his master. 

It seems it has not, for the emperor has again told me 
that when he has seen the Kiag of Prussia and heard from 
himself what he thinks, he will take a definite course. 
This reply induces me to go to Prague, so that I may the 
sooner get a positive answer and know definitively what the 
emperor means to do. He seems to me in opposition to his 
ministry, which makes delays and wants to wait before 
doing anything for the action of the National Assembly 
about the Constitution, and the reply that the King of France 
may make to it. I have endeavoured to show them how 
illusory all that is, how necessary it is for the success of the 
operation not to lose time, and how useful, even from their 
point of view, a demonstration of force would be in making 
the Assembly more tractable. As soon as the emperor has 
had his interview with the King of Prussia I hope to send 
Y. M. his definitive answer. 

The King of Sweden to Count Fersen. 

Drottningholm, August, 23, 1791. 
I send you inclosed several extracts from despatches re- 
lating to the affairs of Prance. You will see the necessity 
of urging the Empress of Eussia through the emperor. I 
add nothing more at this time, because I hope to have let- 



154 DIAKY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vi. 

ters from you by the next post making plain the intentions 
of the emperor. By the news from France, I see that the 
Constitution will soon be ready to be presented to the king. 
It would be very fortunate if the king could be induced to 
refuse all answer, on the ground of his captivity. He would 
risk nothing, because it is notorious that they dare not attack 
his person from fear of the foreign powers ; and he would 
thereby greatly strengthen the efforts of his friends. 
If you still have communication with him, give him that 
necessary advice. 

Baron Taube has arrived and gives me the best assurance 
of the firmness of the princes in not entering upon any 
negotiations. They have written to the empress by M. 
de . . . that the Prince of Nassau had amused them with 
words of consolation from Her Majesty. I think it is very 
necessary to warm up the empress in their favour, and you 
would do well to talk with the Eussian ambassador in 
Vienna about the affairs of France, in order that he may 
write about them to the empress. That princess is a 
woman who will never have a moment's peace until she 
obtains what she wants. 

On which, I pray God to have you. Count Fersen, in his 
holy keeping, being 

Your very affectionate 

GUSTAVUS. 

The King of Sweden to Count Fersen. 

The little castle of Haga, 
September 8, 1791. 

I have received to-day an answer to my letter to the King 
of England, of which I send you a copy ; as a mark of the con- 
fidence I like to show to the emperor, I request you to show 
it to him. You will see that the King of England expresses 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 155 

himself in a positive manner about the neutrality he is re- 
solved to hold as to the affairs of France; and when one 
considers the peculiar position of that king in view of the 
spirit of his people and the British constitution, the resent- 
ment he has a right to retain concerning the war iu America, 
and the jealous feelings of the English against their former 
rival in greatness, it seems to me that we can hardly look 
for anything more favourable or more positive than this 
letter of H, Britannic M. announces. And if to that one 
adds (with regard to Sweden) that the King of England, by 
declaring himself neutral, puts himself in the position of not 
being able to refuse entrance to his ports of Swedish vessels, 
if forced by accidents to take refuge there (the old treaties, 
especially that of 1662, always recognized as subsisting 
between the two nations, give us positive rights as to this), 
you will see that the words of the King of England's letter 
express more than appears at first sight. 

I think that the emperor will judge the matter in the same 
light, and being thus assured of the intentions of the King of 
Prussia and those of the King of England, he will feel the 
necessity of hastening operations. The position of the 
King and Queen of France is too cruel for them to be able to 
bear it much longer ; the season is advancing ; prompt meas- 
ures are absolutely necessary, especially for the Northern 
Powers. The Empress of Eussia, being now delivered from 
all the embarrassments of the Turkish war, will be able to 
second efficaciously the efforts of the other crowns, and her 
grandeur of soul joined to the high regard she feels for the 
emperor, will no doubt bring her to adopt the measures 
necessary for concurrence ; still, I think it is essential that 
the emperor should urge her vigorously, and I charge you to 
speak of this to H. I. M. when you communicate to him the 
letter of the King of England. 



156 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vi. 

I flatter myself that the emperor will recognize in all this 

the zeal and friendship which inspire me for him and for the 

safety of the queen his sister, and his brother-in-law the 

king. 

Your very affectionate 

GUSTAVUS. 

The King of England to the King of Sweden. 

St. James, August 13, 1791. 

MoNSiEUE, my brother and cousin : 

In consequence of the friendly letter that I have just 
received from Y. M., I profit by this opportunity to testify 
how sensible I am to the assurances you give me of your 
esteem and personal friendship. It will always give me true 
pleasure to cultivate those feelings as well as to preserve and 
increase the good understanding which has so long and so 
happily existed between our States. 

My conduct in relation to the troubles which agitate the 
kingdom of Erance has been guided by the principles of a 
strict and perfect neutrality, and never, in any of the 
occasions which have arisen, have I departed from that system. 
I am far from wishing to involve myself in the internal 
affairs of that kingdom in order to profit by this crucial 
moment, or obtain advantages which circumstances might 
offer to me. As a result of the same principles I intend to 
take no part in the measures which the other Powers of 
Europe may see fit to adopt in this matter, neither to second 
them, nor to oppose them. The wishes I form in this affair 
tend solely to the welfare of Their Very Christian Majesties 
and their subjects, and to the restoration of public order and 
tranquillity in a kingdom so adjacent to my own States 
and with which my subjects have relations of friendship 
and commerce. 

I shall see with pleasure all events that may contribute to 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 157 

suck important results; and if the new order of things 
appears to present consequences which might affect the 
interests of my subjects, I shall feel no difficulty in express- 
ing myself ultimately on the subject in the frankest manner 
to the different Powers of Europe with whom I have the 
happiness to live in peace and a good understanding. I beg 
Y. M. to be convinced of the friendship and high considera- 
tion with which I am, Monsieur, my brother and cousin, 
Your Majesty's 

good brother, cousin, friend, and neighbour, 

George R 

Baron Tauhe to Comte Fersen?- 

Deottningholm, September 9, 1791. 

I received your letter of August 20 this morning, my dear 

friend; it is very curious that the reflections which you 

make in the cipher part of your letter as to the reasons of 

the emperor's slowness I had already said to the king some 

days ago. I do not doubt that the former is jealous of the 

king's success and of the reputation he has won ; he will be 

still more so when he learns that the empress refers herself 

to him and to his decision relatively to the affairs of France, 

and relies on him for the execution of their joint operations. 

There may be still a second reason why the emperor should 

not wish the Northern Powers to take an active part in the 

restoration of the King of France : we know that Prussia has 

never made a treaty in favour of any one without turning it 

to good account and getting leg or wing from her closest 

allies (for as yet none of them, except England, have failed 

to be her dupes). It may be that in the treaty just con- 

1 Baron Taube was, it must be remembered, the first gentleman of the 
Bedchamber to the King of Sweden and in his closest confidence ; for this 
reason his letters are of great importance as expressing the views, inten- 
tions, and real policy of the king in French affairs. — Tk. 



158 DIARY AND COERESPONDENCE OE [chap, vl 

eluded between the emperor and the King of Prussia they 
have mutually guaranteed to each other some portions or 
possessions of France as indemnity for the cost of succouring 
the king ; but that cannot be done now without the co-opera- 
tion of the Northern Powers. The emperor's slowness looks 
very suspicious to me since the signing of the treaty with 
Prussia ; it is certain that if they can delay action for another 
five or six weeks it will be a physical impossibility for us 
and our neighbours to get out of the Baltic. The answer of 
England reached us yesterday, and I think it is perfect and 
just what we wanted ; it seems to me that all we could ask 
of the King of England is not to take part for or against 
the operations that other Powers may attempt for the res- 
toration of the Prench monarchy. 

There is one thing, however, that we must ask of England 
(and the King of Sweden has rights by which to do so) : it is 
that our fleets may winter in English ports ; England exacted 
this of us at the beginning of this year (when she thought 
there would be a rupture between herself and Eussia), by 
reason of an old treaty existing between Sweden and Eng- 
land. The king refused it only for the Baltic ports, not for 
the ports of the North Sea, such as Gothenburg, Marstrand, 
TJddevalla, etc. ; but the Eussians have not the same claims. 
We must obtain this, and money ; for what the empress gives 
is not sufficient, now that Spain will pay nothing at the 
present moment ; the latter promises to send it when things 
reach the point of being able to act — but that point never 
comes for Spain. Everything is going with abominable slow- 
ness ; we are all ready to leave our ports by the end of this 
month, the Eussians the same; but they don't want us to 
do so, my friend; I am more and more convinced of that. 
The princes were to send Baron d'Escars here, but he has 
not arrived. 



1791] COUNT AXEL EERSEN. 159 

I annex to this letter a project for the descent on Nor- 
mandy, which the king desires me to send you. It is certain 
that if we could get there and operate, that would soon settle 
the existence of the National Assembly, for we should then 
find ourselves in the heart of France. I am now getting 
further information on this memorial ; the descent, if made 
at a spot called the Fosse de Colleville, is very practicable ; 
but it remains to be seen where our fleet can then stay, for 
the roadstead of La Hogue is not tenable during the winter 
months; for this reason we must obtain permission for the 
joint fleets of Sweden and Eussia to winter in English ports; 
because it would be impossible to get them back to Sweden. 
All our sailors say that the entrance to the port of Ostend 
is impracticable in the autumn, and, to judge by the charts 
they show us, it must be so on account of the many sand- 
banks which form at the entrance of the harbour. 

Eeturn to me this memorial by the courier; the king is 
much bent on the execution of this plan. I think it very 
feasible as to the descent at Colleville ; but we must have 
safe ports for fleets of some thirty or more ships of the line 
and frigates. By this plan we should be rid of the embarrass- 
ment of acting with the combined troops of several Powers, 
which always retards all operations; there would be none 
but ourselves and the Eussians, and such of the French as 
would rally to us. It would be best in every way, even for 
us, if this project could be carried out; it would cause us 
fewer embarrassments and less expense ; for we should take 
with us on the ships what we needed in the first instance, and 
once on shore we could find means of subsistence, and even 
ports, later. 



160 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vi. 

Count Fersen to the King of Sweden. 

Prague, September 14, 1791. 

I have Y. M.'s despatch of August 19. Yesterday the 
emperor received an answer from Kussia, which he communi- 
cated to me himself. The empress proposes to him a con- 
gress, the recall of ambassadors, a declaration in common to 
the Assembly, and the cessation of all communication and 
commerce with France. She informs him that a second 
courier will bring him information as to the troops she 
means to send and the steps she proposes to take. The em- 
peror supposes from this that she is waiting to concert with 
Y. M., and he will determine nothing until the arrival of that 
courier. He is more decided than ever on the congress, and 
all we can obtain fi-om him is to have it supported by troops. 
He seemed to me to feel the necessity of that. He told me 
yesterday that orders were about to be given to march two 
regiments of cavalry and some battalions of infantry into 
the Brisgau, and that the requisitions were ready to be 
sent. 

M. de Mercy has been to England and brought back the 
assurance of the perfect neutrality of that Court. 

If, after all this, the emperor takes no steps, I shall feel 
sure that he is only seeking to gain time and so prevent the 
Northern Powers from sending troops this year; in that 
case I shall send him, before his departure from here which 
is fixed for the 20 th of this month, a note demanding a posi- 
tive answer. It will be useless for me to prolong my stay 
any longer, the emperor not intending to return to Vienna 
till October 23. From what he says to me I ought to be- 
lieve that he is determined to act, and feels how important 
it is, even for his Low Countries, that the Swedish and Eus- 
sian troops should arrive ; but there is a wide difference be- 



1791] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 161 

tween words and actions. I gave him on the 9 th a rather 
detailed memorial on what I thought necessary to be done 
at this moment. I insisted on the utility and necessity of 
the immediate arrival of the Swedish troops. We shall see 
what that will produce. ... It will be useless to negotiate 
with the other princes of Germany ; they will consent to 
nothing without the advice of the emperor, and he, having 
declared himself head of the league, will lend himself to no 
foreign negotiation with them. The subordinates here all 
assure me that he will do nothing, and I know that that is 
their advice to him ; I fear their influence much. 

Count Fersen to Baron Taube. 

Prague, September 21, 1791. 

The king's courier arrived last night, and I received your 
letter, my dear friend. I do not think it is solely from aver- 
sion or jealousy that the emperor delays and drags along the 
operations ; I think him personally inclined to act ; but his 
ministry holds him back and he has not force enough to 
resist it. I think their plan is all made : they want to await 
an answer from England which they have asked for through 
the King of Prussia; they want to form an army of the 
Cercles [German States] ; they want to wait and see what 
answer the King of France gives touching the Constitu- 
tion, and then consult anew all the Courts to learn what 
they think; then, if the king is at liberty after that, they 
will propose a congress at Aix-la-Chapelle ; but I doubt if 
they will permit columns of troops to support it, or that 
they mean to do anything before the spring. 

The king will show you the memorial which I have given 
to the emperor. It was written solely to induce him to agree 
to this step [the arrival of Swedish and Eussian troops] ; 
but what I say in it about the proper method of interference 

11 



162 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vi. 

in the affairs of France is, I think, the only way, namely : 
not to enter into any question of government, but to demand, 
solely, that the king be set at liberty either at the Hermitage 
or at Montm^dy. By this method we should avoid all the de- 
lays into which discussion of governmental details would lead 
the congress, and it would destroy the argument which the 
Vienna ministry has already used to me, namely : that if the 
King of France sanctions the Constitution freely, he will he 
shown to he inaster in his own kingdom and the Powers can 
interfere no further. That is incontestable ; but the king 
must be really free, not apparently so. That is the one 
thing to insist upon, and it simplifies matters very much. . . . 
I am seeking a means of correspondence with the King of 
France to inform him of all that is going on, and induce him 
to make requests to the emperor and our master, which 
would be very useful. Perhaps the position of the kmg and 
queen (of which I have no knowledge at this moment) may 
make them desire the project of our master and the empress. 
I will get information as to this, and if it be so, my God, 
what happiuess ! I will send you a courier at once, and the 
landing could be made effectually. It seems to me a good 
scheme ; but the important, indeed the absolutely necessary 
point is that the ships may have a safe roadstead in order to 
have a sure retreat in case of disaster ; and that this road- 
stead should be susceptible of defence to prevent the vessels 
from being insulted, or burned. For this reason I should 
prefer the roadstead of La Hogue, in spite of its distance from 
Caen; it can be defended; whereas that of the Fosse de 
Colleville is open and the fleet would be exposed. The idea 
of disembarking the troops there and then sending the ships 
to La Hogue seems to me hazardous ; the fleet might have 
contrary winds, and part of the troops must be left on board 
to seize the forts which defend the entrance to La Hogue. 



1791] COUNT AXEL FEKSEN. 163 

However, the navy can best judge of these operations ; I do 
not know the coast. 

But, in any case, an enterprise of this kind can only be part 
of a general plan concerted with the emperor. All partial 
advance would involve great danger to whoever undertook 
it, and would only expose the king and queen so long as they 
are in Paris. By all that I have told you, my friend, you will 
see that I could be more useful in Brussels than in Vienna 
for it seems to me clear from all that I am told that the 
strongest impulsion comes from the Comte de Mercy and the 
archduchess [Marie Antoinette's sister, governor of the Low 
Countries]. I know that to them is communicated all that 
happens, every thing is passed upon by them ; it is therefore 
on them that we should act, and if there I should be better 
able to keep the king informed as to what is happening and 
what are the intentions of the King of France. . . . 

You are very right in all you say of the Comte dArtois, 
. . . his visit to Vienna has done more harm than good ; all 
vehement action checks the emperor and his ministry still 
more, and the consequence is that the former has decided to 
act without the princes ; he fears the intrigues of those who 
surround them, and he is confirmed in this idea by letters 
from M. de Mercy, and letters from the queen written before 
the attempt to leave Paris, and one which he received through 
M. de Mercy since the arrest, in which she asks that the 
Powers will act without the princes ; she fears their reckless 
behaviour ; she fears to find herself dependent upon them, if 
it is through them that matters change ; she fears, and with 
reason, that their proceedings will only irritate the factious 
without alarming them, whereas those of the foreign Powers 
will terrify them. The emperor has therefore decided to act 
without the princes in concert with the other Powers ; we 
must, however, induce the king to keep on good terms with 



164 DIARY AND COREESPONDENCE OF [chap. vi. 

the princes, for that may be useful to him, but not to bring 
them forward in any negotiations with the other Courts, 
especially that of the emperor. Make any use o± this that 
you think proper, without compromising any one. We must 
also induce the king to make no partial advance without the 
consent of the King of France, or else in concert with the 
other Powers ; the danger would be too great for him, and 
even for the King of Erance. . . „ 

I leave on the 28 th for Brussels, where I hope to open a 
correspondence with the King of France to find out what he 
wants and if we can concert something with him in which our 
master and Eussia can take the leading part ; but, as I could 
from there give ideas to the king's ministers at the different 
Courts, I must have the cipher, for with the one I have I 
cannot communicate with Vienna. If the king desires 
this, send me the cipher at the earliest moment. 

Adieu, my dear friend ; God preserve you ; love always the 
most tender and most sincere of your friends. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

September 26, 1791. 
Your letter of the 28th has reached me. For two months 
I have had no news of you ; no one could tell me where you 
were. I was on the point, if I had known her address, of 
writing to Sophie [his sister, mistress of the robes to the 
Queen of Sweden] . . . [seven lines missing^] we are here 
in a new position since the king's acceptance [of the Con- 
stitution] ; to refuse it would have been nobler, but that was 
impossible under the circumstances in which we are. I 
could have wished that the acceptance were simple and 

1 The queen's letters are nearly all in cipher, or in " white ink " mingled 
with plain writing, and various undecipherable or missing passages occur. 
— Tb. 



1791] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 165 

shorter, but that is the misfortune of being surrounded by 
villains ; indeed, I assure you it was the least bad project 
they presented. You can judge of this some day, for I have 
kept for you all that ex . . . \_tivo lines missing] there ; 
which I had the good fortune to find, as there are papers 
in it belonging to you. The follies of the princes and the 
Emigres have forced us to this step. It was essential, in accept- 
ing, to remove all doubt of its being sincere. I believe that 
the best way to sicken every one of all this is to seem to be 
in it wholly ; that will soon show that nothing can go on. 

In spite of the letter that my brothers have written to the 
king (and which, by the way, did not at all have the effect 
here which they expected) I do not see, especially in the 
declaration of Pill ni tz, that foreign help is very prompt. 
That may, perhaps, be fortunate, for the farther we advance 
the more these wretches will feel their misfortunes ; perhaps 
they will even come to desire the help of foreigners them- 
selves. I fear that rash heads may lead your king to do 
something which may compromise him, and us with him. 
Much wisdom is needed. I shall write to M. de Mercy. 

As soon as you are in Brussels, let me know ; I will write 
to you simply ; for I have a sure means always at my orders. 
You could never imagine how much all that I do in these 
days costs me ; and yet, this vile race of men, who say they 
are attached to us and to whom we have never done harm, 
are furious at this moment ; it seems as though one must 
have a base soul to do with satisfaction that to which one is 
forced; and it is their . . . and their conduct which has 
dragged us into the position in which we now are. I have 
had but one happiness, that of seeing once more the gentle- 
men who were imprisoned for us, — especially M. Goguelat ; 
he is perfectly reasonable and his head has become balanced 
during his imprisonment. 



166 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vi. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie- Antoinette. 

Brussels, October 10, 1791. 

I am here again. 

l_Four lines missing.'] 

I pity you for having been forced to sanction [the Consti- 
tution] ; but I feel your position, it is dreadful, and you 
could take no other course. I have at least the consolation 
of knowing that other reasonable persons are of the same 
opinion. But what are you going to do ? Is all hope lost ? 
If any remains, do not allow yourself to be disheartened ; if 
you desire to be aided, I hope that you can be ; but for that 
we must know your desires and your plans, in order to 
moderate or excite the good-will and efforts of the King of 
Sweden and the other Powers ; for, in any case, the princes 
must be only auxiliaries. 

The Empress of Eussia and the kings of Prussia, Naples, 
Sardinia, and Spain are very satisfactory, especially the first 
three ; Sweden will sacrifice herself for you. England assures 
us of her neutrality. The emperor is the least willing : he is 
weak and indiscreet ; he promises all, but his ministry, 
which fears to compromise itself and wants to avoid inter- 
ference, holds him back. Hence the contradiction which you 
notice between his letters and his acts. I was sent to him 
by the king with full and unlimited powers, to propose and 
consent to whatever might serve you. I have been unable 
to do anything except prevent a few foolish acts of the 
princes and persuade him to have nothing to do with them. 
I made him a detailed memorial in which I proposed to him 
to recall the ambassadors and have them meet in congress ; 
to insist on nothing except your liberty in the terms of the 
PilLnitz declaration ; to exact, as a proof of your liberty, that 
you shall go to the Hermitage or to Montmedy, and call the 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 167 

body-guard and whatever troops you wish around you ; to 
advance columns of troops on all sides toward the frontiers ; 
to demand them from Sweden and Russia and allow their 
troops to land at Ostend. I asked the emperor to make this 
demand at once, inasmuch as the other Powers have all said 
that they would do what he did. He was of my opinion 
about everything ; but nothing has been done ; all has been 
allowed to go on until now you have been forced to sanction 
the Constitution. But if you have any project, we can push 
it by the other Powers, and as I am charged by the king [of 
Sweden] to correspond with all his ministers, I will guide 
myself in doing so by what you will write to me. 

Here are certain questions to which it is necessary to 
reply ; but to save length I keep the numbers and you can 
mark your answers 1, 2, 3 : — 

1. Do you intend to put yourselves sincerely into the revo- 
lution, and do you think that there is no other means ? 

2. Do you wish to be aided, or do you wish us to cease all 
negotiations with the Courts ? 

3. Have you a plan, and what is it ? 

Pardon these questions; I flatter myself that you will 
see in them only the desire to serve you with boundless 
devotion. 

October 12. 

M. de Mercy has just communicated to me your letter 
and I write in consequence. He was against the congress 
until now, but I have decided him to support it in Vienna 
by proving to him that some ostensible step must be taken 
to check the princes and the assemblage whom they have 
collected about them ; it is alarming. The affair of Avignon 
is a good pretext for a congress, and I intend to write to the 
ministry of the King of Spain asking them to induce the 
pope to call for an intervention of the Powers. You must 



168 DIAKY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vi. 

urge the emperor to form the congress, or, at least, to an- 
nounce it at once, indicating the place and naming the mem- 
bers. Exaggerate your fears about the princes and say that 
this announcement will calm them. Insist that the congress 
be supported by a demonstration of armed force. 

Comte Fersen to Queen Marie- Antoinette. 

October 13, 1791. 

I have nothing to add to my letter of yesterday. Con- 
tinue to insist with the emperor and urge him ; ask him to 
tell you frankly whether he intends to do what you request 
of him ; I will try to have him urged by the other Courts. 
Do not let your heart go out to those madmen; they are 
scoundrels, who will never do anything for you ; you must 
distrust them, and use them. 

I have confided to the Chevalier de Coigny a part of my 
negotiations ; I know no other fault in him than that of lik- 
ing Calonne. I have had no time to decipher more than the 
beginning of your letter. It is the fear of compromising us 
which has kept me from writing to you. I am just now 
overwhelmed with writing. I cannot return to Sweden be- 
cause I am charged with the king's correspondence. The 
rest of this cipher means nothing ; it is only to fill up the 
paper. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

October 19, 1791. 

It is impossible to bring out M. de Breteuil's writing on 
the papers with the liquid that the Chevalier de Coigny has 
brought us. Send me word at once, by post, the right way 
to use the liquid and of what it is made, because if this is 
bad we must get some more made. 

I have written to M. de Mercy to urge the congress ; I 
told him to communicate my letter to you ; therefore I will 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 169 

enter into no details about that matter here. I have seen M. 
de Moustier, who also desires the congress. He has even 
given me some ideas for the basis of it which I think reason- 
able. He refuses the ministry, and I advised him to do so. 
He is a man to preserve for better times ; and he might be 
lost. 

Eeassure yourself ; I shall not let myself go to these mad- 
men, and if I see them, or have any relations with some of 
them, it is only to make use of them; they inspire me with 
too great a horror ever to let myself go to them. They 
intend, I believe, to put the Comte de S^gur in M. de 
Moustier's place. I wish he would take it ; he knows how 
to speak, and that is all we need at this moment when we 
cannot have ministers who are good for us, and it may ruin 
him ; there would be no harm in that. 

The body-guards make us very anxious ; it is certain that 
they will be entirely lost for us by forming them into a 
corps, as is now being done ; I am assured by these madmen 
themselves that nothing will be more easy than to bring them 
back later; but there certainly is an air of intending to do 
something down there [_lcc-bas'], and then it would be impossi- 
ble. I have written of this, and so has the king, to his 
brothers by the senauhr [?], to see if there is no way of 
doing something to prevent it. The point is not to unite 
them into a corps, and, if nothing is done this winter, to send 
some of them back here. We must not, however, urge their 
return, because we have a project very much like that of the 
month of June ; it is not yet fully determined ; I will let 
you know about it in eight or ten days ; if it takes place it 
will be from the 15th to the 20th of November. If we can- 
not go then we shall do nothing more this winter, but go on 
waiting for the congress, which I shall urge strongly. 

I cannot tell you how touched I am, the king also, by 



170 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vi. 

what that good M. Crawford is doing for us. I will write 
you in a few days what you must say to him from us. We 
should be very glad to be able to do anything for him. 
There are so few persons who show us true attachment ! It 
is known here that he is concerned in our affairs, and I have 
had many fears about his house. 

All is tranquil enough for the time being, apparently ; but 
this tranquillity hangs by a thread, and the people are al- 
ways as they were — ready to commit horrors. We are told 
they are for us ; I do not believe it ; certainly they are not for 
me. I know the value to set on all that ; most of the time 
the people are paid, and they only like us as long as we do 
what they choose. It is impossible to go on much longer in 
this way ; there is no more safety in Paris now than there 
was before [the acceptance of the Constitution] , perhaps less, 
for they are now accustomed to see us degraded. 

You tell me nothing of your health. Mine is good . . . 
[two lines missing]. Frenchmen are atrocious in every way; 
if those here get the advantage and we have to live on among 
them, we must take great care that they shall have nothing 
to reproach us with ; but we must also remember that if 
those now without [the emigres'] should ever again become 
masters we must do nothing to displease them . . . [Jive 
lines missing]. 

Baron Tauhe to Count Fersen. 

Stockholm, Oct. 21, 1791. 

The treaty of alliance [between Sweden and Eussia] was 
signed yesterday. The empress gives the king 12,000 infan- 
try and 4000 Cossacks and hussars, and 12 ships of the line. 
What I am to tell you now, my friend, is of the greatest 
secrecy, and you will see how necessary it is that I shall not 
be compromised. The king has just received an extremely 



1791] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 171 

friendly letter from the empress, with copies of one she has 
written to the emperor and of one she has received from the 
princes. In her letter to the king she says she perseveres in 
her idea of contributing with all her power to the overthrow 
of the new Constitution in France, in spite of its acceptance 
by the king of France, which should be regarded as forced 
and null ; if, however, the Xing and Queen of France accepted 
it in good faith, so much the worse for them, and in that case 
the King of France must be regarded as non ens. You can 
judge what advantage can be drawn from the opposition of 
a person who thinks as strongly as she does. 

To the emperor she says : " We must assist the princes 
efficaciously and begin operations without delay." You see 
from that how necessary it is that the King of France should 
himself write to the empress and tell her of his affairs and 
his designs, — to her directly, or to her through the king [of 
Sweden], to whom she seems to give herself up with the 
utmost confidence. 

As for the affairs of France, here is what the princes say 
in their letter to the empress : " The spirit of delay which 
is conducting the cabinets of Vienna and Madrid, the bad 
faith of the latter, which we have good reason to believe is 
sold to our enemies, the intrigues of the Baron de Breteuil 
(for it is time to name him to Your Majesty), who prefers to 
upset everything rather than see any projects succeed but 
those he conceives himself," etc., etc. You can tell all this 
to M. de Breteuil, without naming me ; I rely, my dear friend, 
on your regard and discretion. Advise the baron to keep up 
a steady correspondence with the king [of Sweden] ; the king 
has a great esteem for him and has loved him from childhood. 
Try, in God's name, that the king may have money so that he 
may be in a position to rule all the others ; for if he does not 
begin this affair, the other Powers will never do anything. 



172 DIARY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. vi. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie-Antoinette. 

October 25, 1791. 

Continue to urge the emperor for this congress ; without a 
very decided and prompt step in that direction, I fear all 
from the folly of the princes and the emigres; they are 
much excited, and if they think themselves abandoned I 
will not answer for what they may do. I have written to 
the ministers of my king at all the Courts, telling them to 
urge the emperor on this point ; he needs to be pushed, or he 
will do nothing. Do not fear any rash advance on the part 
of my king; I can stop that. His conduct in your affairs 
deserves your gratitude; if all had behaved like him you 
would not now be in your present state. 

Stael says horrors of me ; he has even bribed my coach- 
man and taken him into his service, which pains me. He 
has prejudiced against me many persons who now blame my 
conduct and say that I act from ambition only, and that I 
have ruined you and the king. The Spanish ambassador and 
others are of that opinion. They are right : I have had am- 
bition — to serve you, and all my life I shall regret that I 
did not succeed ; I wanted to return to you a part of the 
obligations it has been so sweet to me to owe you, and I 
wanted to show others that one can be attached to persons 
like you without any selfish interests. The rest of my con- 
duct might have proved to them that there was my sole am- 
bition, and that the glory of having served you was my 
dearest reward. 

My horses have arrived [those with which he drove the 
royal family to Bondy]. I know that you have seen the 
wife of my valet. How kind ! but I ought to be accustomed 
to that. They say here that you prefer to remain as you 
are, and to make use of the princes; that is very proper, 



1791] COUNT AXEL TERSEN. 173 

but take care ; it must not be said openly, or it will be dan- 
gerous for you. 

My father wants me to return to Sweden, but I hope to 
bring him round to my ideas; it is chiefly the matter of 
money which alarms him. Tell me what you wish me to do 
with that I sent for you to Holland. Am I to mvest it, or 
leave it on deposit where it is ? M. de BouiUd, though I told 
him to remit to me what remained of the million, had the 
weakness to give it to the princes; it was seven hundred 
thousand francs, which would have been very useful to you 
to have. If the princes can be restrained the present vast 
emigration may not be an evil for you ; it may serve to en- 
lighten the people and bring them back through want and 
poverty. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie-Antoinette. 

October 29, 1791. , 

I have received perfect letters from Sweden. The king 
urges the empress strongly, and she is very well inclined. 
She desires an interview with him, which is to take place as 
soon as the frontiers are settled. It is important that your 
letter should reach her before this interview ; it would have 
a good effect. I have already told the king what you desire 
should be done, and I wiU repeat it to him again. Baron 
Taube has come round to my idea for the congress, and I am 
sure that the king will urge it. The departure of the min- 
isters and ambassadors should be on leave of absence, and 
this should take place as soon as possible ; but it is necessary 
to insist to the emperor that a demonstration of armed force 
be made to support the congress ; or, at least, that prepara- 
tions be made to march the troops, without which the con- 
gress will not have the power or the consideration it ought 
to have. The emperor, Spain, and the King of Sardinia 



174 DIARY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. vi. 

could give orders to hold their troops ready to march. The 
King of Prussia could order his in Wesel to prepare their 
war equipment and hold themselves ready: Sweden and 
Eussia the same. Insist on this to the emperor. I shall 
write the same everywhere. Disunion is in the councils at 
Coblentz [among the princes and emigres] ; the Bishop of 
Arras has departed. They are weary of Mardchal de Broglie. 
Calonne and Jaucourt have quarrelled ; the first will not re- 
main if the other does ; they even say that he is going back 
to England. M. de Castries is here; he inclines to go to 
Coblentz, but he is very reasonable and wants to induce M. de 
Breteuil to go with him, which he will not do ; but I hope 
Castries will put him into relation with the princes suffi- 
ciently to prevent their follies. Even the two princes 
[d'Artois and Cond^] have quarrelled, and I hope there will 
be nothing to fear from them. We must, nevertheless, make 
use of that scarecrow to urge the emperor, who needs it, or 
he will do nothing. If the emigres return just now it will 
be a great misfortune, but they had far better never have 
come out ; as they are here, however, their return would be a 
great triumph for the madmen, and you would lose much of 
your power to control the latter. I therefore think it best 
to have an air of wishing the return of the emigres but do 
nothing to promote it ; it is only necessary to restrain them ; 
and the congress will do that. 

Whenever you receive blank paper or a book with blank 
leaves or engravings it will be written upon in white ink ; 
when the date is at the bottom of the letters, the same. 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 175 



CHAPTER VII. 

1791. The same continued. — Efforts to obtain a Congress. — Memorial of 
Count Fersen to the Queen, explaining the political Situation of the 
Powers and advising a Course of Action for the King and Queen of 
France. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

October 31, 1791. 

I received your papers by M. de Brige yesterday; the 
writing came out perfectly with the liquid which I obtaiaed 
from the apothecary. The kind sent to us from down there 
\lk-bas~\ must have evaporated, but that is no matter now. 
I shall try to answer all in brief ; and I will do so as often as 
I have time up to Thursday, when the man who takes charge 
of this letter will start. 

I was so hurried the last time I wrote to you that I could 
not speak of M. Crawford. Tell him that we know the per- 
fect way in which he has acted for us ; that I have always 
taken pleasure in thinking of his attachment, but that now, 
in the dreadful position in which we are, every new proof of 
interest is a claim the more, and very sweet, upon our grati- 
tude. — Monsieur^ s letter to the baron [de Breteuil] surprised 
and shocked us ; but we must have patience and not show 
too much anger at this moment ; I shall, however, copy it 
and show it to my sister. I am curious to know how she will 
justify it in the midst of all that is happening. Our interior 
is a hell ; with the best intentions in the world there is no say- 
ing anything. My sister is so indiscreet, and so surrounded by 
intriguers, and above all so ruled by her brothers from with- 
out, that there is no way for us to talk to one another, or we 
should quarrel all the time. I see that the ambition of the 



176 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vii. 

persons who surround Monsieur will ruin him entirely ; he 
believed, at the first moment, that he was everything ; but 
do what he will, he never can play a role ; his brother [the 
king] will always have the confidence of others and the 
advantage over him in all cases, from the constancy and 
invariability of his conduct. 

It is very unfortunate that Monsieur did not return at 
once when we were arrested ; he would then have followed 
the course he had always announced, — that of never quitting 
us ; and he would then have spared us much pain and trouble 
which may perhaps result in a formal summons [sommationi 
which we shall be forced to issue for his return, to which we 
feel, especially if made in that manner, he could not consent. 

We groan at the number of emigres ; we feel the injury, 
as much for the interior of the kingdom as for the princes 
themselves. What is dreadful is the manner in which these 
worthy persons are deceived and have been deceived, so that 
soon nothing will remain to them but anger and despair. 
Those who have had enough confidence in us to consult us 
have remained, or, at least, if they thought it for their honour 
to go, they have heard the truth from us. But what good 
was that ? the tone and mania are not to do our will ; to say 
that we are not free (which is very true) ; that consequently 
we cannot speak our real thoughts, and that the reverse of 
what we say should be done. This has been the fate 
of the memorial sent by us to my brothers, which you saw 
and approved. The answer came that we were forced to 
write that memorial, that such could not be our sentiments, 
and that consequently they would take no account of it ; and 
then they beg us to have confidence and speak to them 
frankly ; which is really saying : " Do our will and then we 
will serve you, but not otherwise." 

As it is possible, however, that they may at this moment 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 177 

be committing follies whicli would ruin all, I think we 
ought to stop them at any cost ; and as I hope — from what 
your documents say and from the letter of M. de Mercy — 
that the congress will really take place, I think we ought to 
send them from here some safe person who would show them 
[the princes] the danger and the extravagance of their 
scheme, and also show them our true position and our 
desires, and make them see that the only course for us to 
follow at this moment is to gain the confidence of the people 
here ; that that is useful, necessary even, to any project 
whatever; for all should go on together, and the Powers 
not being able to come to the help of France with great 
forces during the winter, nothing but a congress can rally 
and unite the means that may be possible in the spring. 
But, in making this confidence [to the princes] we must 
beware of their extreme indiscretion; for that reason, we 
can say to the person who goes from here only that which 
we want to make openly known Ido-has. 

M. Grimm has arrived here. He wished to see me, but I 
answered that it was impossible for me to receive him, and 
that is true in a certain way; I am too closely watched. 
But I have had him told my reasons by a person who, at the 
same time, will tell him in suitable terms of our feelings 
for the empress [of Eussia]. It is very important that we 
should succeed in making her adopt the idea of a congress ; 
by her character she can bring all the Powers to decide 
upon it, and she can also restrain the princes. I fear 
only the levity of M. de Calonne and the petulance of M. de 
Nassau. 

There is nothing to be gained from this Assembly ; it is a 
crowd of scoundrels, madmen, and fools ; the few who want 
order and less evil than the rest are not listened to, or dare 
not speak. It is in the mud, among the populace even, 

12 



178 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vii. 

that the Assembly tries in every way to create excite- 
ment ; but that succeeds no longer. Nothing but the dear- 
ness of bread occupies their minds, and the decrees. The 
journals do not even speak of it [excitement] ; in this there 
is a great change, very visible in Paris, where the great 
majority, not knowing whether they want this regime or 
another, is weary of troubles and does want tranquillity. I 
speak of Paris only ; for I think the provincial cities are worse 
at this moment ; and yet from Coblentz they never cease to 
tell us that they have great good understandings through- 
out the kingdom ; but the affair at Lyon makes us cautious 
and little credulous on such assurances. The King of 
Sweden, in sending back to the king his letter notifying his 
acceptance [of the Constitution] without reading it, did a 
thing which I wish had been done by all the other Powers ; 
but done alone, I fear there was imprudence in the step. 
JSTevertheless, it is impossible to be more touched than we 
are by the frankness, the loyalty, the nobleness of his conduct 
to us, and I hope that some day we may at last benefit by 
all that he is good enough to do for us. 

I have just read two despatches from Spain, one of October 
13th, the other of the 20th. They are very well, and I think 
that Spain will make no difficulty about the congress. The 
idea of it is even a part of her own plan ; but she wants that 
the king be free and able to go where he pleases leforehand. 
That idea is impossible ; for they will always say here that he 
is now the master of going where he pleases ; but in point of 
fact he cannot do so, for besides the danger of getting out of 
Paris (where he might be obliged to leave his wife and son), 
his personal safety would be no greater in other places, for 
there is not a town, and no troops, on which he can rely. It 
seems to me, on the contrary, that it is only in seeking to 
win daily more confidence and popularity here that we can 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 179 

succeed, after the congress is opened, in joiniag it, or at least 
IQ going to the frontier, to be in some sort charged with the 
interests of this country. If we could gain that point, it 
would be all ; and that is the object for which we ought to 
aim ; for that, all our daily actions should combme to inspire 
confidence. The misfortune is that we are not seconded 
here by any one, and, no matter what efforts I make, I cannot 
alone do all I wish and feel so necessary for the general good. 

Spain has still another idea, but I think that detestable : 
it is to have the princes return, accompanied by all the 
French, supported only by the King of Sweden as our ally, 
and announce by manifesto that they do not come to make 
war, but to rally all good Frenchmen to their side and declare 
themselves protectors of true French liberty. The great 
powers to furnish the necessary money for this operation, 
and remain themselves outside with a sufficient number 
of troops to awe, but do nothing; so that no pretext of 
invasion or dismemberment could be made. 

But all that is not practicable; and I think that if the 
emperor would hasten to call the congress, that is the only 
useful and suitable manner to make an end of it all. I do 
not understand why you wish the Powers to withdraw their 
ministers and ambassadors at once. It seems to me that, 
this congress being supposed, at least at first, to be called as 
much for affairs that concern all the Powers of Europe as 
for those of France, there is no reason for this sudden 
recall. And besides, is it sure that all the Powers would act 
alike ? and do you not think that England, Holland led by 
England, and Prussia, in order to outwit the others, will 
leave their ministers ? Then there would be disunion in the 
opinions of Europe, which could only injure our affairs. I 
may be mistaken, but I think that nothing but great harmony, 
at least in appearance, can impose respect here. Distrust 



180 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vii. 

Denmark; from the despatches she seems detestable, espe- 
cially towards Eussia and Sweden. 

I must have expressed myself ill about the body-guard; 
our intention was not to recall them, but to prevent their 
being formed into a corps, and, if nothing were done this 
winter, that the officers, or the richest among them, should 
return here to show themselves. The same thing exists for 
the emigres; I know perfectly well that, once out of the 
country, and in such a manner, their return is impossible ; 
but this is a great misfortune ; greater even for the rest of 
France than for Paris, for the provinces are now delivered 
over entirely to themselves, or to a horde of scoundrels and 
factious persons. In the position in which we are, with the 
horrible mistrust they are always trying to excite against us, 
it is impossible that we should not do publicly all that is 
necessary to bring back every one. The decree of the parlia- 
ment proposed at the council of the princes was crazy ; I am 
not astonished that it was rejected. It seems to me that the 
best heads in that of Paris would reject such extravagance, 
and not desire to leave their place here. 

I understand very well all that concerns the cipher, but you 
must always put two full stops when two words end at the 
same time and leave the j and v ; that will facilitate things 
for us. We have read very easily all that was in white ; 
but in future the king will dispense with ceremony ; it will 
be easier to say " you " only, I also desire that the bishop, 
or some one with legible writing, shall write these letters, 
and not you, who are already worn out with writing. You 
must, by the next safe opportunity, send us word how much 
money we have outside, at Brussels and in Holland, and the 
name of the bankers. Send me word also what we owe to 
Mme. de Korff, and how and when we can pay it. 

As Mar^chal de Castries is right-minded, the baron [de 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 181 

Breteuil] might agree with him as to our interests and our 

ideas ; so that he could go to Coblentz and speak in our 

name to our brothers. We will try to find some one to send 

to him from us with the authorization. I should like it to be 

the Baron de Viomesnil, but I do not know if he would be 

willing. 

November 7. 

I hope that this letter can go to-morrow. It ought to 
have gone the 3d, but the person was delayed by his affairs, 
and I preferred to wait, to be sure it was safely delivered. 
This person, who starts to-morrow morning, returns soon. I 
think the opportunity is safe. 

Is it true that the King of Sweden has sent a minister to 
the princes at Coblentz ? I am much afraid they will force 
the king here to write a letter to the King of Sweden with 
his own' hand on present affairs ; if that happens, it will be 
only another proof of his non-liberty. No ministry yet. 
Mme. de Stael is bustling much for M. de ISTarbonne. I 
have never seen a stronger or more intricate intrigue.^ 

The answer of the emperor to the acceptance contains, 
they say (I have not yet seen it), a very good phrase, which 
may prepare the way for the congress, provided he keeps to 
it, and makes haste to announce it ; for in spite of the appar- 

1 The Russian ambassador in Paris, M. Simolin, writes of this appoint- 
ment tlius : " No one in society has a more brilliant mind than this new can- 
didate ; he spent his youth with men of letters, whom he surpassed in the 
piquancy and wit of his poems. He had a stormy youth, and Madame 
Adelaide covered his follies several times with great liberalities. Mme. 
de Stael, the Swedish ambassadress, long possessed M. de Narbonne's 
heart ; she quitted him two years ago for the Bishop of Autun, his best 
friend. M. de Narbonne, audacious in character, and ambitious on prin- 
ciple, will certainly not fail to upset everything in the department they 
are going to confide to him ; all the legations, the embassies, the bureaux 
will be made over new, and his ministry may perhaps prove an epoch of 
extraordinary changes in French politics." (Letter of M. de Simolin to 
Mme. de Sullivan. November 4, 1791.) — Tk. 



182 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OE [chap. tii. 

ent quiet at Coblentz, heads are much excited and it is to be 
feared that the princes cannot control them much longer, 
I must give my letter to-morrow morning, so I must finish it. 
Adieu. 

My sister has shown me a letter from Monsieur, dated 
from Brussels, to justify the one that he wrote to the king, 
in which he says that you had announced to him that the 
king wished to charge him with everything during his 
imprisonment. I warn you of this in case the same thing 
should be said where you are ; as for us, we know very well 
all about it. Adieu. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

November 7, 1791. 

Be perfectly easy ; never will I let myself go to these 
madmen ; we must use them to prevent great evils, but as for 
good, I know very well they are not capable of it. Adieu ; I 
am tired out with writing ; never have I done such work, and 
I am always afraid of forgetting, or of putting in stupidities 
\line missing]. , , , I see that all the aristocrats and demo- 
crats are rabid against the Baron de Breteuil ; I am uneasy 
at seeing you with him. It is to Coblentz and the emigres 
that we owe this cruel persecution ; they have said so much 
about our acting solely by the baron's advice, declaring that 
he has all our secrets, that the ministry and the madmen 
here are beginning to talk of it. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie- Antoinette. 

November 11, 1791. 

The bishop [of Pamiers] goes to Paris, I will send you 
by him a long detail of your position and of what I imagine 
there is to do. It is very necessary that you should write to 
Spain and Eussia to claim their help, and convince them 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 183 

that you do not abandon yourself wholly to the Constitu- 
tion. Your letter to Eussia can go through Simolin ; that to 
Spain by Breteuil. One word to Sweden would be well, and 
I will send it. By this means, you will prevent those 
Powers from letting themselves go to the princes when 
they see that you wish to act for yourselves. It would be 
well to speak of the congress which you have asked the 
emperor to call, and tell them that you will explain 
more in detail your projects, in which you hope they will 
concur. 

Send me word if you have sufficient confidence in M. de 
Laporte for the bishop to send letters by him as if they were 
from the baron. 

I cannot sufficiently tell you how important it is that you 
should write as soon as possible to Sweden and Eussia con- 
fidentially, to prevent them from giving themselves over to 
the princes under the conviction that you will never do any- 
thing. This first letter to the king would be only to say 
that you hope for the friendship and interest he has already 
testified for you, which you trust he will continue to 
testify ; that your position requires the greatest caution, but 
that you will shortly let him know with confidence what 
your plans are, and that, knowing his noble and generous 
way of thinkiag, you do not doubt he will second them with 
all his power, and employ his influence with the empress to 
decide her in your favour, and with the princes to prevent 
them from committing any rash act which might thwart 
your plans. Your letter to the empress could be the same, 
flatteriug her a little. In this way they can be made very 
useful to you. Before writing the other letters wait until 
the Bishop of Pamiers brings you the memorial. I am 
writing of your position outside of France; you can then 
judge better what there is to do, and of the plan of conduct 



184 DIAKY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vii. 

which I shall propose to you. Never write to me through 
M. de Mercy ; he can decipher all your letters. 

Stael has just received a furlough of three months, with 
orders to leave Paris immediately. 

Do not forget to tell me to say something amiable from 
you and from the king to M. Crawford ; he deserves it so 
much ! 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

November 25, 1791. 

I await the bishop with much impatience. Here is a note 
for the Baron de Breteuil; it is an extract from a long 
memorial the king has written to render account to himself 
of all that he has done in these days. The paper is very well 
written; but besides having arguments in it which are not 
necessary, it is much too long to put into cipher. 

Our position at this moment is terrible, the factious are 
ceaselessly at work ; the people are ready at any moment to 
rise and commit horrors ; the republicans employ all means 
to excite them. I believe, nevertheless, that if we are wise, 
we can gain much, and sooner than we think, from this very 
excess of evil; but great prudence is needful. Without 
foreign help we can do nothing [six lines missing], . . . but 
the paper I mentioned will go to-morrow, by another oppor- 
tunity ; I prefer that, being afraid to make too thick a packet ; 
inside you will find two letters in white ink, one for Spain, 
the other for Sweden ; we do not dare write otherwise. You 
must bring out the writing ; the baron can take charge of the 
one for Spain. If you think them bad, burn them and let me 
know ; also let me know what we ought to write. The word 
of the cipher is caiose ; I do not know if it is in all its letters, 
for I was obliged to get some one to write it. There is noth- 
ing for you in it, so Breteuil can decipher it. M. de Stafel 



1791] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 185 

has not gone. He comes every day to Court. Adieu ; it is 
nearly two o'clock. 

Annexed to the foregoing. 

Extract from the memorial of King Louis XVI. 

All policy should be reduced to setting aside the ideas of 
invasion which the emigres may perhaps undertake alone ; it 
would be a great misfortime for France if the interests of 
the emigres were put forward on the first line ; and if they 
had the assistance of only a few Powers. Who can say that 
others, like England, would not furnish, secretly at least, aid 
to the other side, and take advantage of the unhappy state 
of France, which is rending itself to pieces. 

The emigres must be convinced that they can do no good 
between now and the spring ; that their interests as well as 
ours demand that they shall cease to cause uneasiness. We 
feel that if they think themselves abandoned they will rush 
into excesses that ought to be avoided; we must therefore 
give hopes to some of them for next spring, and provide for 
the wants of the others. 

A congress would attain the desired end; it might con- 
tain emigres, and alarm the factious. The Powers should 
agree together on the language to hold to all parties. A 
combined action among them could only redound, not be in- 
jurious, to the interests of the king — besides their personal 
interests. Occasions may arise when these interventions 
would be necessary ; if, for instance, an attempt were made 
to establish a republic on the ruins of the monarchy. 
Neither is it possible that they should see without uneasi- 
ness Monsieur and the Comte dArtois not returning [to 
France], and the Due d'Orl^ans the nearest to the throne: 
what subjects for reflection ! 

The firm and uniform language of all the Powers of 



186 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vii. 

Europe, supported by a formidable army, would have most 
fortunate results ; it would temper tlie ardour of tlie emigres, 
whose role would then become secondary, the factious would 
be disconcerted, and courage would revive among good citi- 
zens, friends of order and of the monarchy. 

These ideas are for the future and for the present. The 
Powers have many reasons for wishing to have an under- 
standing with each other; these reasons are given in the 
memorial sent six weeks ago to M. de Mercy. 

The king caimot, and will not retract of himself what 
has been done ; the majority of the nation must desire him 
to do so, or he must be forced to it by circumstances ; in this 
case, he must acquire confidence and popularity by acting in 
accordance with the spirit of the Constitution. By causuig 
it to be executed literally its vices will be recognized, and, 
especially, the anxiety caused by the emigres will be re- 
moved. If they make an irruption without an overwhelm- 
ing force France and the king will be destroyed. The Baron 
de Yiomesnil, who has been spoken to on this subject, can 
develop the general ideas contained in this memorial. 

Memorial of Count Fersen, written for Queen Marie- 
Antoinette} 

Brussels, November 26, 1791. 
From all that I have written you of the slowness of the 
emperor and his want of active good-will for you, of which I 
am convinced by all that I saw myself in Vienna, and by the 
means that he never ceases to employ to paralyze the good- 
will of the other Courts and prevent them from acting (of 

1 This memorial is very long and is shortened here ; the parts omitted 
being indicated in the text. It will be found in " Le Comte de Fersen et 
la Cour de France," vol. i., pp. 233-256. Firmin-Didot et Cie, Paris, 
1878. — Tk. 



1791] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 187 

whicli I will some day give you positive proofs), I think it 
necessary that you should adopt another plan of conduct ; 
but before proposing it I ought to give you a correct idea of 
your position outside of France. 

The Powers which sincerely desire to help you, such as 
Spain, Russia, Sweden, and, possibly, Prussia, see as yet in the 
king's acceptance [of the Constitution] and in all his conduct 
only weakness ; above all, in his subsequent conduct, for 
which they do not feel the necessity, even granting a neces- 
sity for the acceptance. They fear that your intention is to 
do nothing and continue to go on feebly, and always by the 
Constitution ; they feel the danger of that example ; and, as 
the restoration of the monarchy touches their own political 
interests, they will ally themselves with the princes rather 
than allow so monstrous a government to be established in 
France, 

The other Powers, such as the Empire, Holland, and Eng- 
land, to whom the debasement of France may be of some 
advantage, will seek under different pretexts to prevent the 
effect of the good dispositions of the others, but without 
declaring themselves. It is useful to them that disorder and 
anarchy should continue, and that the kingdom should thus 
become weaker without their seeming to have any hand in it, 
and without its costing them anything. 

The King of Spain is very well-disposed ; all his interests 
unite to come to the help of the king, and the assurances 
that he gives are positive. The emperor alone chooses to 
doubt them. . . . The conduct of the King of Spain at this 
moment, and the assurance which, I am informed, he has 
given to Vienna, that he will never recognize the king's 
acceptance, will show you that you cannot doubt his good 
intentions. It will suffice if you direct them, and make them 
concur to a common end concerted with you. The Kings of 



188 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vii. 

Sardinia and Naples will follow the lead of Spain. I have 
positive assurances of the favourable way of thinking of the 
King of Poland, but, whatever be his good-will, his political 
position does not allow him to act in any way. 

After what took place at the interview at Pillnitz, and 
after all that M. de Bischofswerder told me in Vienna and 
has never ceased repeating to the emperor in the most earnest 
manner, namely, that his master [the King of Prussia] was 
all ready to act in your favour ; that 50,000 men were pre- 
pared to march at the first requisition, on condition that the 
emperor did the same ; that he would act in harmony with 
him in all the steps he might indicate, and that the treaty 
just signed between them would assure the emperor of his 
intentions ; and finally, after what the King of Prussia him- 
self sent you word by M. de Moustier, we certainly ought 
to count upon him ; at any rate enough not to fear that he 
will be against you, or that he would oppose what the other 
Powers may try to do in your favour. . . . 

The inclinations of the Empress of Eussia are not equivo- 
cal ; they are even too pronounced, and might be dangerous 
if influenced by others than yourself, and unless you can 
bring them to concur in a plan of operations formed by you 
and concerted with her. The two millions she has given to 
the princes, the letter of authorization which she gave Count 
Eomanzoff to treat with them (for it was not a letter ac- 
crediting him, merely a simple cabinet letter letting them 
know they could rely on what he said to them from her), — 
all this proves the desire that she feels to help you ; but not 
being in any way informed of your projects, she takes the one 
means that seems to her proper, and the only one that remains 
to her. The emperor's slowness has inspired her with dis- 
trust as to his desire to serve you. . . . The warmth she 
puts into succouring you is extreme ; it is only necessary to 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 189 

temper it a little and show her the ways and means of serv- 
ing you. For that, you should write to her, claim her assist- 
ance, let her know your plans and concert them with her. 

You have long known the friendly dispositions of the King 
of Sweden and the ardour that he puts into serving you- 
But his spirit is eager and restless and needs to be calmed ; 
it is solely occupied with the means of succouring you, and 
nothing will seem to him too costly to reach that end. You 
know the sacrifices that he made for it in his treaty with the 
empress, and all his actions tend to that object. Here are 
some quotations from his letters : " Eumours are flying 
about as to the sentiments of the Court [of France] towards 
the princes, which are very ujijust to them and very injuri- 
ous to the common interests, so that I cannot believe those 
tales; give me weapons with which to defend that Court, 
especially to the empress, on whose mind I fear these things 
may make a fatal impression. If every one would only 
believe me, we should not wait till spring to act; it is 
merely, as I think, givmg time to the factious to strengthen 
themselves." And he ends by thus speaking of the king : 
" Even if he abandons the rights of his son, of his family, of 
his equals, I shall not abandon them ; I shall use the same 
ardour in serving his brothers that I have been ready to use 
in his service ; and I share this feeling with the Empress of 
Eussia." 

The King of Sweden cannot conceive the reasons which 
prevent you from trustuig to the good-will of the priuces; 
he needs, in order to feel that necessity, a closer and more 
detailed knowledge of your position than he has. It is to 
give it to him, and convince him of the necessity of your 
conduct, that we are bending all our energies ; but a friendly 
and confidential communication of your situation and your 
projects would have the desired effect; it would bring him 



190 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vii. 

back to calmer ideas ; it would keep him from acting with 
the princes and induce him to concert with you ; and in that 
position his zeal and that of the Empress of Eussia would be 
very useful to you. You could even use the influence he has 
on the princes to guide their conduct, through him, without 
their suspecting it, and to make their actions tend to a com- 
mon end concerted with the other Powers. Denmark can 
have no other will than that which Sweden and Eussia 
dictate to her. 

England sees with pleasure the evils that are devastating 
France. The disorder and anarchy which reign there pro- 
mise her, more and more, the degradation of that Power. It 
is to her advantage that they should continue, and whatever 
may be the private sentiments of the King of England and 
the general horror of the English for the means that have 
been employed, he will never do anything to check them. 
But, at the same time, there is every reason to believe that 
the English ministry will never contribute to foment the 
trouble, or to hinder the effect of the good-will of the sover- 
eigns who desire to succour the King of France ; on the 
contrary, there is every appearance that the King of Eng- 
land is awaiting the moment when the other powers declare 
themselves in favour of the king to do so himself ; but with- 
out that preliminary he will always remain in his present 
passive state. This, at least, is the opinion of a man who, 
by his mind, his knowledge, and the relations he has with 
his own country, is better prepared than any one to see 
its true intentions : I mean Mr. Crawford ; and in the jour- 
ney he has kindly made to England, out of attachment to 
you and to your service, he convinced himself of these 
dispositions. . . . 

Holland is absolutely dependent on England; neverthe- 
less, it is for her interests to see the germs of democracy 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 191 

smothered, or they will reach her territory and destroy the 
work of the Stadtholder. 

The emperor deceives you. He will never do anything for 
you, and imder the specious pretext of your personal safety 
and of fulfilling your wishes in not acting with the princes, 
he abandons you to your fate and allows the total ruin of the 
kingdom to be consummated. He delivers you up to the 
hatred of the nobles, whom he reduces to despair and drives 
in that way to some desperate action, — equally dreadful for 
you if it succeeds, by throwing you absolutely into depend- 
ence on them, if it fails, by taking from you all means of 
action and exposing you still further. Already you can see 
the effect by the decree just hurled at the emigres and by the 
letter of Vicomte d'Agoult, which the Baron de Breteuil 
sends you. The emperor is personally well-disposed, but he 
has neither vigour, nor means, nor character to take a course 
and carry it through against the opinion of his ministry. 
He is weak and kind ; he does not know how to resist his 
Council, which is slow, feeble, undecided, timid, — afraid 
of compromising itself. Besides which, the humiliation of 
France enters into its policy as a means of obtaining for 
Austria a greater preponderance in Europe. 

The indiscretion with which the emperor has made known 
to the whole world that he receives letters from you, and the 
little effect he has given to his good-will, make it generally 
concluded that you write to prevent him from acting. Your 
enemies use this to spread about that you are opposed to all 
enterprises ; that the desire to rule, and the fear of being 
ruled made you prefer to accept the Constitution and side 
with the factious, rather than owe the restoration of your 
authority to the princes and the emigres. They assert that 
you would rather lose the kingdom than a part of that 
authority, — with a thousand other tales, one more absurd than 



192 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vii. 

the other. These ideas are spread among the nobles and are 
believed by them ; very sensible men, to whom you were 
attached, are inclined to adopt them. Baron de Breteuil is 
regarded here as your agent for this purpose, and since his 
arrival the great majority of the French will not see him. 
I feel, as you do, how little notice should be taken of such 
injustice, and you are unfortunately accustomed to worse ; 
but in the position in which you are, in the uncertainty as to 
events which may arise, we must try to destroy these 
rumours, and let the result of what you will have done for the 
emigres prove to them and to all Europe, at a future day, the 
falsehood of these tales. For this, a plan should be adopted 
and followed with all possible activity ; and here is the one 
I now propose to you : — 

If it is true, as T believe, that you cannot rely upon the 
emperor, you absolutely must turn your hopes another way, 
and that way can only be the North and Spain — which 
ought to decide Prussia, and so compel the emperor. Of all 
the Powers of Europe those are the ones on whose disin- 
terestedness you can most rely. Their geographical position 
precludes all views of conquest, and their political position 
binds them to the maintenance of the French monarchy. 
They should be asked : (1) not the recall of their ambas- 
sadors from France, but their departure on leave of absence. 

(2) the immediate assembling of a congress, the pretexts 
to be those you have already suggested to the emperor; 

(3) the despatch of troops to support the congress and 
make its deliberations respected ; or, if the season does not 
admit of the assembling of troops, then to make such 
arrangements as shall prove the intention to march them as 
soon as possible. 

This action of the Powers of Europe, which you will not 
appear to have instigated and which cannot expose you, will 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 193 

inspire great alarm, the effect of which will probably be to 
fling France into the arms of the king ; and the king, being 
the sole person with whom the congress could treat, will 
find himself naturally the mediator between his people and 
the Powers ; he will obtain from his people the means of 
acting, while indicating to them the course they ought to 
follow under the circumstances. The princes and the 
emigres would then become useful ; their conduct and actions 
being regulated by the congress. 

But as it would be impossible without a leader of some 
sort to obtain any result, and as the king, not being free, can- 
not be that leader, the King of Spain should be invited to 
take that role ; as head of the House of Bourbon he has more 
right to it than any other ; and the refusal he has given to 
recognize the king's acceptance of the Constitution gives him 
great facilities. Eussia and Sweden will easily adopt this 
idea, which has already been broached to them, and by indi- 
cating to the Court of Madrid, in concert with those two 
powers, the course to follow, you will have less to fear from 
Spanish slowness and indecision. 

I do not think it desirable, however, to break with the 
emperor or startle him ; he should be managed and treated 
circumspectly ; also, in spite of the just grounds for distrust 
which you have as to the sincerity of his interest for you, 
you must not let him perceive that distrust, and preserve an 
air of confidence in him always. 

If you adopt this new plan ^ it will be necessary that you 
should yourself inform all the well-intentioned Powers 
whose assistance you decide to claim, such as Spain, Eussia, 
and Sweden. Perhaps, too, a letter to the King of Prussia 
might be useful, judging by what he said to the King of 
Sweden. You ought, after thanking the King of Spain for 

^ It was adopted. 
13 



194 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vii. 

all that he has done for you, for the manner in which he 
received your protest m 1789, for the firmness he shows at 
this moment, to make him a pictm-e in brief of your present 
position, and show him the impossibility of remaining as you 
are; you should then communicate to him the plan you 
adopt ; ask him, in virtue of the friendship and interest he 
has already shown you, and those you have a right to hope 
from him through ties of blood, to take charge of your 
interests before the Foreign Powers and support the demands 
you may be in the way of making to them ; say to him that 
no one has more right than he to be the head of the league 
which will restore your authority and repair the insults 
offered during the last two years to the House of Bourbon ; 
and that you would rather owe the obligation to him than to 
any one. Inform him that you have asked the emperor for 
the assembling of a congress ; and request the king to pro- 
pose an armed congress and point out to him the pretexts. 
Say that you will make the same communication to Sweden 
and Kussia, whose dispositions are known to you, and ask 
him to concert with those two Powers as to the steps to take, 
and say that you wish to use the influence that those Courts 
possess over the princes to guide their conduct. Beg him to 
rouse the zeal of Prussia, which has given you positive 
assurances of interest through M. de Moustier, and, if 
you decide to write to the King of Prussia, tell him so. 
You should end by representing to the King of Spain how 
necessary it is not to lose time, but to adopt prompt meas- 
ures. Ask him also to use his influence with Portugal, 
Sardinia, and Naples; or, perhaps, charge the Baron de 
Breteuil to speak with the Neapolitan ambassador who is 
here: then, after a few compliments, add that you do not 
doubt he will consent to give you these proofs of a friend- 
ship on which you have always relied. It will be well 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 195 

to add that Baron de Breteuil remains in charge of your 
correspondence. . . . 

Your position is becoming daily more and more critical; 
France is advancing with great strides to its ruin. The 
factious are working incessantly to make you lose the little 
popularity you were beginning to gain, and the veto of which 
the king has just made use is a means they will not fail to 
lay hold of. You already know the rumours that are spread 
about you outside of France for the purpose of alienating the 
nobles from you; they are trying to degrade you at the 
Courts by representing all your acts as the result of weak- 
ness ; and if you do not quickly issue from the state in 
which you are, you will be abandoned by all parties and 
delivered over wholly to the mercy of factious persons and 
republicans, who will then have no further obstacle to the 
execution of their guilty projects. The steps which I have 
just indicated towards the Powers of Europe can alone save 
you ; they will restore to you outside of France the considera- 
tion you deserve ; they will prove to the Courts the falseness 
of the imputations against you, and they will give you an 
opportunity of acting by yourself and of calling back to you 
the nobles, alienated by a hundred foolish tales which your 
present inaction seems to warrant.^ . . . 

By all that I have now said you will see how necessary it 
is to take a course as soon as possible and inform me of it. 
You cannot stay in the position in which you are ; and 
you have everything to fear from Coblentz and the emigres, 
some of whom act in good faith, others in bad. Baron de 
Breteuil behaves very well; he is entirely devoted to you. 

^ It is of course quite plain that in writing thus to the queen Count 
Fersen was really addressing the king ; his sense of Louis XVI.'s weakness 
and lethargy pierces through these sentences. — Tk. 



196 DIARY AND COHRESPONDENCE OE [chap. vii. 

As for me, have no uneasiness ; I am no longer anything to 
the French ; I serve the King of Sweden and I have no deal- 
ings with them ; the only way in which I can be pleasantly 
and safely among them is to be always a foreigner. They 
treat me extremely well and with distinction ; they fear me 
because they know I have no need of them ; I run no risk 
whatever. But I think it necessary that you should take a 
course, and a course which cannot be charged in the eyes of 
Europe with weakness — otherwise the Powers will be forced 
to turn away from France and have nothing more to do with 
her but by very distant intercourse. 

As for my departure from Brussels, whatever desire I have 
to satisfy and tranquillize you, it is impossible. I am here 
by order of my king and I cannot absent myself. I am 
charged with his affairs; he has ordered all his ministers 
and ambassadors to correspond with me here and to be 
guided by what I may convey to them. You see therefore 
that I cannot leave my post. But you can be tranquil ; I 
run no risk. 

Answer me, I beg of you, at the earliest moment as to what 
course you mean to take : it is absolutely necessary to write 
to the different Courts ; it must be as soon as possible ; there 
is not a moment to lose. You will risk nothing in writing 
to Prussia, and it is necessary. Except the letter to Spain, 
you can send all the others here by a safe man to me, or to 
the baron, and we will send them on by courier. But all 
this requires the greatest promptitude, for the season is 
getting late. I received your long letter yesterday ; but M. 
de Mercy, thinking it was for him, read it before he gave it 
to me. It would be better not to send again through him, or 
at least to make a second inclosure and write him a line to 
say to whom it is to be given. 

What you tell me of your home grieves me, but does not 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 197 

surprise me ; yon are doomed to bear all evils at once ! I 
understand very well what you say about the cipher; we 
will use it thus : we will put one full stop [.] at the begin- 
ning ; and when there is a letter skipped we will put two 
full stops [:]. There is another manner, which is less long, 
and of which we had better make use, namely, to squeeze 
the juice of a lemon into a glass and write with it ; the writ- 
ing should be between the lines of a gazette or pamphlet ; 
which can be sent to me, addressed either to " Eignon " or 
simply to me. I will write to you in the same way and 
send the pamphlet to the Comte de Coigny, the Due de 
Choiseul, or to Goguelat ; inform them of this. If you have 
confidence in M. Laporte it would be safer and more con- 
venient to send through him, and to use the three others 
only occasionally. Answer me as to this. You must be 
careful that the printed lines are far enough apart and that 
the paper is good enough not to blot. This way is brought 
out, like white ink, by warming it. 

You have no money in Brussels. M. de BouilM remitted 
to the princes the five or six hundred thousand francs which 
remained. As for that which I sent into Holland for you, I 
will send you the details as soon as I have a moment to 
look them up. You will lose at least one quarter ; for two 
thousand they give me here but fifteen hundred. 

You see by the refusal of the emperor what you have to 
expect ; I am not content with him or with M. de Mercy, 
He is very well for me and for you in words, but results do 
not follow, and it is absolutely necessary that you should act 
for yourself, or else renounce doing anything and decide to 
stay as you are. I do my best to restrain the King of 
Sweden, but it is not easy, for he has the empress with him ; 
if he is once assured that you will do nothing it will be im- 
possible to restrain him. 



198 DIAHY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vii. 

Sunday the news was spread that you had escaped and 
had arrived at La Marck's house at Eaismes. All the French 
were wild ; many started ; all who doubted were regarded as 
bad citizens. Baron de Viomesnil had you on his arm with 
the dauphin ; the Due de Choiseul had the king, disguised 
as a woman. No one ventured to give me the news or even 
speak of it, or ask me if it were true. They never speak to 
me of affairs, nor I to them ; I keep them at a great distance. 
It is a horror to have spread this story ; and they are now 
endeavouring to find out whence it came. M. de Wicolai 
and M. de Simon were the first to spread it here ; it is thought 
it came from Coblentz or even from Paris, to prevent your 
departure, if such were your intention. 

Answer me as to the possibility of my going to see you, 
entirely alone without a servant, in case I receive an order 
from the king to do so ; he has already said a word to me 
about his desire for it. 

Baron Thugut told Mr. Crawford that you implored the 
emperor with clasped hands to keep quiet and do nothing 
for you ; consequently he could not act. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie- Antoinette. 

Bettssels, December 4, 1791. 

I have received your letters of the 25th and 26th. We 
will send those to the Kings of Sweden and Spain in cipher. 
They are admirable. If you decide to write the second 
letters we will send both in the original. The Note is per- 
fect. I have given it to the baron. 

I deeply feel the horror of your position, but it will never 
change without foreign assistance, or by excess of the evil. 
The present evil may give place to another ; but you would 
be always miserable, and the kingdom would fall into disso- 
lution. Never will you win the factious; they have too 



1791] COUNT AXEL TERSEN. 199 

much to fear from you and your character. They feel their 
wrong-doing too much not to fear vengeance and not to keep 
you always in your present state of captivity, even prevent- 
ing you from using the authority given you in the Constitu- 
tion. They will accustom the people to no longer respect you 
and love you. The nobles, believing themselves abandoned 
by you, will think they owe you no duty ; they will act for 
themselves, by themselves, and with the princes ; they will re- 
proach you with their ruin, and you will lose the attachment of 
all parties, some of whom will accuse you of having betrayed 
them, others with having abandoned them. You will be 
lowered in the eyes of the Powers of Europe, who will accuse 
you of cowardice, and the weakness for which they blame 
you will prevent them from allying themselves to a ruined 
cause which can never be of any utility to them. In the 
fear the King of Sweden now feels that you will do nothing, 
but await all from time and from events of which you can 
foresee nothing, being unable to control them and unwilling 
to make use of the princes, he writes me as follows : — 

"The Empress of Eussia is very much dissatisfied with 
this conduct ; especially because the Queen of France writes 
letter after letter to the emperor to prevent him from acting 
while she, the empress, is using all her influence on his mind 
to induce him to take active steps. The empress herself 
writes this to me." 

In speaking of the dissatisfaction that such conduct in- 
spires he says : — 

" Judge yourself what would be the position of the queen 
if the king should die, and she saw herself at the mercy of 
her two brothers-in-law and of a noblesse who could reproach 
her with having sacrificed them and with beiug the sole 
cause of their ruin and their proscription." 

The king gives me positive assurances of the good inten- 



200 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vii. 

tions of Eussia and Spain, hopes as to those of Prussia, and 
about the neutrality of England. 

From all this you see that both for interest and for honour, 
it is indispensable that you should take a course. Pardon 
the zeal and the attachment that I have vowed to you, and 
which will never cease to inspire me for you, if I show you 
hard truths ; but I know you are capable of hearing them, 
and nothing can stop me when it is necessary to serve you. 
Besides, I think it is a duty to hide nothing from you. 

I think it certain that M. de Mercy returns to Paris. This 
is a great misfortune for us. It ought to prove to you once 
more all that I have said to you about the emperor, and how 
little you can rely upon him.. If you accept the plan I 
have proposed you should write a letter to the emperor at 
the earliest possible moment. Perhaps, learning of your 
action towards the other Courts, he may change his course ; 
this is all the more important as one of the reasons of M. 
de Mercy's journey to Paris is doubtless to influence your 
conduct and direct it according to the desires and interests 
of the Court of Vienna. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

December 7, 1791. 

Here are our last two letters. I do not know if you will 
be satisfied with them. I have tried to put in all you told 
me, but it is very difficult for one who has not the habit of 
writing. On re-reading your papers I see that in our two 
long letters we forgot a great quantity of things ; happily, 
they were not the most essential. 

You could not believe the pleasure I have had in seeing the 
bishop ; I could not leave him. I desired so much to write 
you by him if only a word, \line missing] . . . but I could 
not find a moment. He will tell you many things from me 5 



1791] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 201 

especially about new acquaintances and intimacies [liaisons]. 
I found him very severe ; I thouglit I had already done a 
great deal, and that he would admire me. Not at all; he 
told me point blank that I could not do too much. — But, 
joking apart, I am keeping for you, in the happy days when 
we shall meet again, a volume of very curious correspond- 
ence; and all the more curious because one must do justice 
to those who have taken part in it ; no one in the world 
suspects it, and if it is spoken of, it is so vaguely as to 
be thought one of the thousand absurdities that are told 
daily. 

I did not need the letter of the sans torts ["blameless 
one "] to hold him in horror ; the bishop will tell you what 
right I have to detest him ; he is the most dangerous one of 
all, and perhaps the only one really to fear. It is absolutely 
impossible that you should come here at this moment; it 
would be to risk our safety; and when I say this I may 
be believed, because I have an extreme desire to see you. — I 
have just received a letter from M. de Mercy, who complains 
bitterly of the conduct at Coblentz against the emperor. He 
says : " They are trying to excite all Germany against him ; 
they inflame Sweden, and above all, Eussia." He himself 
proposes that I shall write to the latter Court to enlighten 
it, and strengthen its good intentions by regulating them. I 
am going to answer him that we have already written to 
thank Eussia, without entering into other particulars with 
him. The bishop will tell you that in consequence of the 
emperor's extreme indiscretion I think he ought not to be 
told of the other correspondences. M. de Mercy has an air 
of wishing to come here ; I think he is urged to it by my 
friends the madmen here. His coming would do great harm 
at this time, and could do no good ; on the contrary, it would 
cause a hundred thousand more tales about me. Moreover, 



202 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vii. 

such a step would sharpen still further the anger of the 
emigres agamst the emperor and me. 

You must have received the Baron de Yiomesnil. I do 
not know what M. de Breteuil will have said to him ; but it 
is becoming rather embarrassing. I think we must throw it 
all upon the slowness and delays of the emperor, which pre- 
vent us from saying anything positive. The indiscretion of 
Coblentz is too great; nothing can be confided to them; I 
was confounded by receiving, a few days ago, a letter from 
that stout d'Agoult saying : " We await with impatience the 
fat Lorraine baron, so that the union may be perfect between 
here and where you are." — Can you conceive of it ! Oh ! 
this accursed nation 1 how unfortunate to have to live among 
them and owe them service ! 

Our position is rather better since the bishop left. It 
seems that all which calls itself constitutional is rallying to 
make a great force against the republicans and the Jacobins ; 
they have drawn a great part of the Guard to their side, 
especially the Guard on pay, which wiU. be organized and 
formed into regiments in a few days. They have the best 
intentions, and are burning to make an example of the 
Jacobins. The latter are committing all the atrocities of 
which they are capable, but at present they have only 
brigands and scoundrels with them: I say "at present" 
because from one day to another everything changes in this 
country, and none can tell where they are. The department 
is to bring, to-day or to-morrow, its address to the king against 
the decree of the priests ; I am delighted, because, even if it 
does no good, at least it declares war among the parties and 
forces this one by this very step to rally to the king and 
sustain him. The address is composed by a M. Garnier and 
put in shape by Duport and Barnave ; but this is a secret. 

Count Louis de Narbonne is at last miaister of war ; what 



1791] 



COUNT AXEL FEKSEN. 203 



glory for Mme. de Stael ! and what pleasure she will now 
take in having the army — hers ! He could be useful, if he 
chose ; having intelligence enough to rally the constitutionals 
and quite the tone in which to speak to the present army. 
In other respects, he seems inclined to attach himself to M. 
Bertrand in the Council; and he is right; for that is the 
only member of it who is worth anything. Can you conceive 
my position and the role that I am obliged to play all day 
long? Sometimes I do not recognize myself, and I am 
obliged to reflect and see if it is really I who am speaking. 
But what else can I do ? it is all necessary. Believe me, 
we should be much lower than we now are if I had not 
taken this course at once ; at least we gain time by it, and 
that is what we want. What happiness if I could one day 
become able to prove to these wretches that I was not their 
dupe ! 

The baron must press our cause on Eussia and Spain. 
What a misfortune that the emperor has betrayed us ! If 
he had served us weU, merely from the month of September 
when I wrote to him in detail, the congress might have been 
established next month ; and how fortunate that would have 
been for us, because a crisis is advancing with great strides 
here ; perhaps it will precede the congress, and then, what 
shelter shall we find ? — Beware of Prussia ; M. de Schulem- 
burg writes constantly to M. du Moustier, and if M. Heymann 
discovers anything he will let M. de Giliers know of it. 

The address of the department has come ; it is perfectly 
good as to the discussion of the decree of the priests, but the 
wretches are frightened and have put in a mass of imper- 
tinences. M. de Narbonne made his entrance to the As- 
sembly in a speech of almost unbelievable platitude for a 
man of intelligence. I am waiting for Mr. Crawford with 
impatience ; but I am sorry for you that he leaves you ; I 



204 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vii. 

hope they will not pass the winter here, and that he will go 
back to Brussels, for you need distraction. I am impatient 
for your secretary to arrive. How is your health ? I will 
wager you do not take care of it ; and you do wrong. As 
for me, I bear up better than I could expect under the im- 
mense fatigue of mind I have incessantly, and seldom going 
out of doors; I have not a moment to myself, what with 
persons I must see, and the writings, and the time I am 
with my children. That last occupation, which is not the 
least, is my only happiness . . . and when I am very sad I 
take my little boy in my arms and kiss him with all my 
heart, and it comforts me for that moment. 

Adieu. The idea of the chocolate is excellent ; it is 
doubly useful to you, and I shall use it with prudence, but 
sometimes this winter. Adieu, again. 

Friday, 9th. 

I have just received your letter inclosed in an image. I 
am delighted that you have received mine. I hope our let- 
ters to the Powers will calm them and show them our true 
natures. What they say of my letters to the emperor is in- 
comprehensible ; for some time past I have suspected that 
my writing is being imitated to deceive him ; I will clear 
this up. M. de Mercy will do very wrong to come here ; 
but I think that I must write him a word about our letters 
to the Powers. Send me a line at once when you receive 
this packet. I have not been able to finish the letter to the 
king in a better manner ; for twenty-four hours I have 
turned it in every way. 

I think, as you do, that evil alone cannot work for good ; 
and for that reason we must have the help of a foreign and 
external force ; but when you think that Frenchmen reflect 
and are capable of following a system you do them too much 
honour ; I assure you that, for the mere pleasure of change, 



1791] COUNT AXEL PEESEN. 205 

they will return as quickly as they have been rabid for the 
new order of things. Meanwhile, I believe we are going to 
declare war, not against a power which has means to fight 
us — we are too cowardly for that — but against the Elec- 
tors and a few princes of Germany, in the hope that they 
cannot defend themselves. These imbeciles cannot see that 
if they do such a thing they serve us ; because if they begin 
the war, all the Powers must unite to defend the rights of 
each. But, if so, the latter need to be well convinced that 
in this we are executing only the will of others, and that 
the best way of serving us is to fall upon us bodily. — The 
bishop will have told you the difficulty there is in writing 
to me. . . . Adieu. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie-Antoinette. 

Brussels, December 12, 1901. 

The letters to Spain and Eussia have arrived, they are per- 
fect. I await those for Sweden and Prussia. There is still 
another step which is very necessary ; it is to write yourself 
to the Queen of Spain a letter of politeness and confidence, 
referring to the one to the king, and making her feel the 
necessity for the greatest secrecy, on account of Paris. You 
know the influence she has, and this step cannot be too 
quickly taken. You can send it to me by diligence, in a 
box of Bouc tea, addressed to MM. Daniel Danoot, Sons, 
bankers. 

M. de Viomesnil has passed through Brussels. The em- 
peror is trying to make a close alliance with Prussia, Hol- 
land, and England. It is thought that England will refuse. 



206 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vm. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

1791-1792. Proposal of the King of Sweden to rescue the King and Queen 
of France declined by the King. — Louis XVI. compelled to declare war 
against the Princes of Germany. — Further Negotiations for a Congress. 

[The scheme of tlie King of Sweden for a descent on the 
coast of ISTormandy having failed for this year, he generously 
meditated another plan of escape for the unhappy royal 
family, which he submitted to the King and Queen of France 
in a very interesting document (dated December 22, 1791), 
which he charged Count Fersen to deliver to Their Majesties 
in person. The count, who had been proscribed in France 
since the flight to Yarennes, went to Paris disguised and under 
a false name. He arrived there February 11, 1792, saw Their 
Majesties, gave them the document and letters, and discussed 
with them the question of another escape. The king de- 
cided against making the attempt, and the count left Paris 
February 21, reaching Brussels safely on the 25th. 

The correspondence between the queen and Fersen con- 
tinued as before; plans for organizing the armed congress, 
and for concentrating the armies of the Powers along the 
frontiers of France went on ; the King of Sweden still pur- 
sued his idea of invading Normandy, carrying off the king 
and queen and their children and taking them to England, 
when all was brought to a sudden end by the death of the 
Emperor Leopold, March 2, 1792, and by the far more 
disastrous death of the King of Sweden, who was shot by 
Ankerstrom, an ex-captain of his Guard, March 16, 1792. 

The death of the brave and chivalrous king was an 
irreparable blow to the cause of Louis XVI. The Duke- 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 207 

regent (Gustavus lY. being a minor only fourteen years of 
age) was not willing to carry out the plans of Gustavus III. 
He refused to join his troops with those which the Empress 
of Eussia still desired to send into Normandy. It is said 
that history may some day show that the Jacobins had a 
hand in the intrigues that stopped Sweden from giving its 
promised assistance to the unfortunate royal family of 
France.] 

The King of Sweden to Count Fersen. 

Stockholm, December 22, 1791. 

The memorial for the King of France which I send you 
herewith, together with letters which I have written to T. 
V. C. Majesties, will put you completely au fait as to all 
that regards the affairs of France, and will serve for your 
instruction regarding the conduct you have to follow in the 
commission with which I have charged you. I will add 
only that I regard as the most essential thing for the success 
of our projects that the royal family shall escape from Paris 
at the earliest possible moment. I request you, therefore, 
and before all else, to use your influence to make the king 
take that course, on which all the rest depends, and without 
which the measures of the other Powers and those of the 
princes can advance very little towards the end proposed. 

You will see in the memorial itself what action I think 
should be taken to avoid, as much as possible, the dangers 
attending the execution of such a project. You will de- 
velop, better than I could do in writing, the expedient of a 
disguise, which I have only indicated as a safe means ; and 
you can speak to the king and queen of the necessity of 
sacrificing on this occasion, and for such paramount interests, 
comfort and conveniences, the momentary deprivation of 
which cannot be put into comparison with the object of this 
step, on which the whole future fate of the kingdom and the 



208 DIAKY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. viii. 

royal family depends. But for this it is absolutely essen- 
tial tliat the king shall take another route from that of the 
queen with the dauphin and Madame Elisabeth ; if the king 
will go, as I think most useful, to England, and the rest of 
the royal family see nothing better than to take an opposite 
direction, we must, at any rate, fix their point of reunion only 
at the spot whence they embark for England. Without this 
precaution the scenes of Varennes may easily be renewed, 
and so cause to vanish for a very long time the hopes their 
friends found upon the king's flight, if he succeeds in escap- 
ing with his family the slavery in which factious men now 
hold him. 

I have charged Baron Taube to write you at full length in 
relation to the details of this project. The knowledge you 
have of the country and the personages make you more 
capable than any other to judge of what is, or is not practi- 
cable, and I rely on the zeal, activity, and skill of which you 
have already given such marked proofs. I thought at first 
of proposing to the Queen of France the courageous course 
of remaining herself in Paris with the dauphin, to facilitate 
the king's escape ; but on further reflection I thought that 
such resolutions are good only when one takes them one's self ; 
it is difiicult to advise them. I do not, however, regard the 
step as very dangerous for the queen ; the king saved, no one 
would touch her ; and as for the dauphin the worst that could 
happen to him would be to be proclaimed King of France in 
place of his father ; his life and person would become too 
precious to them to hurt. The queen would give by this act 
a great proof of courage and generosity, which would impress 
not only her friends, but would make her so respected in the 
eyes of the people that she would greatly influence all 
minds. It would be only the first moment after the king's 
escape was known that could have any dangers for her ; but 



1791] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 209 

besides taking all precautions and doubling the guard, or else 
going herself with the dauphin to the H6tel-de-Ville and 
putting herself into the safe keeping of the municipality, she 
would captivate all minds and put them so to sleep that she 
could later save herself and the dauphin. I communicate 
these reflections to you that you may use them or keep them 
to yourself, according to occurrences. 

Another and easier plan would be for the queen and her 
children to escape from Paris and conceal themselves some- 
where for a few days till the king is safely out of France, 
when they could take another route and escape easily. It is 
the quantity of persons who assemble round them and travel 
with them which retards the flight and leads to discovery. 
For this reason, it is essential to insist that the king and 
queen take different routes ; for I feel sure that that will be 
the point most difficult to obtain. 

As for what concerns the congress, you will have seen by 
my former letters the reasons I thought myself obliged to 
oppose to it so long as there was hope of bringing the 
emperor to conduct more analogous to the circumstances. 
At present the congress seems, on the contrary, the only 
way to reach that end. I intend, consequently, to write to 
the Empress of Eussia, and after we have concerted to- 
gether I will let you know the result, which wiU serve 
you for instructions in the matter. Meantime I refer you 
to what I have said about it in my memorial to the King 
of France, and to what I have already said to you, — 
namely, that all emissary from the self-styled National 
Assembly must be excluded, and I even think that the pres- 
ence of an envoy from H. V. C. Majesty, in his present 
position, inadmissible to a congress for which the rights of 
the people of Avignon and the injured rights of the Princes 
of Germany are made the pretext. 

14 



210 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. viii. 

I send you hj this courier the passports you asked for, and 
also a letter, accrediting you to the Queen of Portugal, which 
will screen you more completely from all insult in France. 
For this reason I have directed to the Queen of Portugal the 
packets here inclosed for the King and Queen of France. On 
which I pray God to have you in His holy keeping, being 
Your very affectionate 

GUSTAVUS. 

Postscript. I add herewith copies of my memorial and of 
my letters to T. V. C. Majesties. You will keep these copies 
for your private instruction ; and when you start for Paris 
you will leave them locked up in Brussels ; so that you may 
have recourse to them in case some accident should oblige 
you to destroy your papers on the road. Of the two letters 
for the queen, you will see that the longest is the most 
voluminous ; and after what you find [in Paris] you will 
decide to make use of one or the other ; you will then decide 
which of them should be given to the queen. I leave you to 
choose the one which you find to be written in the manner 
most analogous to the circumstances.^ 

Last Paragraph of the King of Sweden's Memorial to the 
King of France. 

The king has now placed beneath the eyes of his friend 
and ally all the reflections that his zeal, and the truest friend- 
ship, and the most sincere interest have inspired in him. 
H. M. hopes that the King of France will recognize these 
sentiments ; and the king will regard it as the finest day of 
his life if he can, by his person or his counsels, contribute to 

1 The memorial is very long, and goes over ground already known to us ; 
it closes with the words that here follow in the text, and the whole will he 
found in the Appendix to vol. i. of " Le Comte de Fersen et la Cour de 
France," pp. 281-292. — Tb. 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 211 

draw the King of France and the French monarchy from the 
fatal condition into which they are plunged. The sight and 
the enlightenment of men are limited ; they can judge only by 
experience and the examples that history furnishes, and often 
fortuitous incidents upset the best-laid plans. But kings are 
born to command, and by their firmness to rule events when 
they threaten their States ; and duty calls them to sacrifice 
themselves for their posterity; they ought not to hesitate; 
in such cases the most perilous course is the safest.^ 

From the King of Sweden to the King of France : Autograph 

Letter. 

Haga, December 17, 1791. 
MoNSiEUE, my brother and cousin : 

The interest which I do not cease to take in Y. M., of 
which you will find proofs that are not equivocal in all the 
steps I have taken hitherto, has prompted me to write a 
brief memorial on your present situation, I beg Y. M. to 
read it alone, and to consult none but your own heart, your 
august wife, and that sister whose devotion renders her so 
interesting and so estimable. You ought to come out of the 
state in which you are; and you cannot doubt the zeal of 
your friends. It is with these sentiments that I am, Mon- 
sieur, my brother and cousin, 

Your Majesty's 

good brother, cousin, friend, and ally, 

GUSTAVUS. 

Postscript. This letter was written and about to be sent 
when I received that of Y. M. of November 26 th. You can- 

1 The tone of the brave king shows plainly his sense of Louis XVI.'s 
weakness, if not cowardice. Perhaps his advice to separate the king and 
queen, which at first sight seems harsh, may have been dictated to his 
gallant heart by a fear of the king's nervous folly, which did much to stop 
them on the road to Varennes. — Tr. 



212 DIAEY AND CORKESPONDENCE OF [chap. viii. 

not doubt for a moment that all that depends on me is 
devoted to you, but I cannot answer for events if the length 
of delays reduces your faithful subjects to despair. Y. M. 
will see by my memorial the warm interest that tlie Empress 
of Eussia takes in your cause. I will write to her to-day, 
following your instructions ; and I await with impatience the 
second letter which Y. M. is good enough to announce to me. 

Co'py of Autograph Letter No. 1 from the King of Sweden to 
Queen Marie- Antoinette^ sent to Count Fersen. 

Stockholm, December 22, 1791. 

Madame, my sister and cousia : 

I send to the King of France a memorial relating to pres- 
ent circumstances. I beg Y. M. to read it and, if you think 
it useful, to further what I propose. It is the truest friend- 
ship and an experience of popular movements which I have 
gained in the course of a long life which have dictated it. I 
beg Y. M. to consider well that it is only by violent remedies 
that violent ills can be cured ; and that if moderation in the 
current of ordinary life is a virtue, it often becomes a vice 
when used in public matters. The King of France cannot 
re-establish his kingdom except by recovering his former 
rights; all other remedy is illusory; all other conclusion 
will only open the door to endless discussion, which will 
increase confusion instead of ending it. It is with the sword 
that the king has been robbed of his rights ; it is with the 
sword that he must regain them. 

But I pause : I ought to remember that I am speaking to 
a princess who in the terrible moments of her life has shown 
a most intrepid courage. 

Y. M., in reading the memorial, will at least do justice to 
my sentiments for you, and to the interest inspired in me by 
your sorrows and your constancy. 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 213 

Copy of Autograph Letter No. 2 from the King of Sweden to 
Queen Marie- Antoinette, sent to Count Fersen. 

Stockholm, December 22, 1791. 

Madame, my sister and cousin : 

It is nearly two years since, in the midst of the war in 
which- I was then engaged, but profoundly touched by the 
misfortunes that were overwhelming Y. M. and the King of 
France, I expressed to the latter my sincere regret at not 
being able then to come to his assistance. Sincere in my 
protestations and constant in my principles, you cannot 
doubt, Madame, how much I feel the difference in my 
position, now that the peace which restores the union of 
Eussia and Sweden enables me to offer you my help at 
this moment when your troubles are increasing. 

Y. M. is not ignorant of all that I have tried to do to save 
you since the misfortune at Varennes, and if at that mo- 
ment the treaty of alliance between the empress and myself 
had been concluded, and if that princess had then had her 
peace made with the Turks I do not doubt she would have 
united her forces with mine to go to your assistance; and 
Y. M. will see by the memorial I send to the King of France 
what zeal and ardour the empress is now putting into your 
cause, I present to the king all the reflections that my 
friendship and the interest I feel for you both dictate to me. 
Your situation is violent, and you must issue from it by vio- 
lent means. Whatever be the peril that confronts you, it 
will always be less great than that of abandoning your fate 
to events and leaving to others the merit and the opportun- 
ity of saving the kingdom. 

But I am not duly reflecting that it is useless to speak of 
peril and try to diminish it in the eyes of a princess who, on 
the 6th of October, showed herself with such intrepidity to the 



214 DIARY AND COREESPONDENCE OF [chap. viii. 

eyes of a furious and misguided people, and who has since 
been fed, so to speak, on peril. But I believe, as a true 
friend of Y. M., that I ought to insist strongly on the abso- 
lute and imperative duty of making the king leave Paris and 
France. Not that I have any doubt of the fidelity of his 
brothers, or of the greater or less obedience they would pay 
to him if he were restored to the throne by them alone. On 
the contrary, I am convinced by the very words of Monsieur 
and the Comte d'Artois, and still more by the feelings they 
showed at our interview, that not only would they never 
presume upon the advantage that service would give them 
over their unfortunate elder brother, but that those by whom 
they are surrounded would have no power to persuade them 
to evade the perfect obedience which their duty towards their 
king and brother imposes upon them. Neither do I fear for 
the life of the King of France, nor for yours, Madame, in case 
of an attack by the princes. I am convinced that the factious 
regard the person of the king and yours as the sole means to 
save themselves, and I believe that you will be more impor- 
tuned by the negotiations they will open to recover favour 
then alarmed by their threats. But, unless the king be at 
liberty, I believe it to be almost impossible to make the other 
sovereigns act, especially the emperor; and if the princes 
undertake an attack alone and fail, all hope is lost ; the dis- 
couragement of your friends will increase the audacity of 
your enemies, and in that way your danger becomes in- 
calculable. 

By the picture I have made to the king of the disposition 
of the crowned heads, Y. M. will see that all depends upon 
himself. I have, out of regard for you, Madame, softened 
as much as I could the proceedings of the emperor ; but I 
think I owe it to Y. M. and to the true friendship that I 
profess for you to teU you the truth without alloy. It is 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 215 

essential that you should know the conduct of your brother, 
in order that you may remedy it and force that prince, so to 
speak, within his own intrenchments. He has done nothing 
but embarrass and stop the progress of negotiation. After 
the capture of the king at Varennes, he put himself forward 
as head of the league of sovereigns which he proposed to 
form. He lost time in negotiations, though fully able to 
march his troops in the Low Countries at once into France, 
where, guided by M. de Bouille, they could, in the state of 
confusion in which all France then was, have reached Paris 
easily. Though he had promised you to send orders to the 
archduchess, governor of the Low Cotmtries, to march those 
troops at the moment of your attempted evasion, she never 
received them ; they did not arrive until three weeks after 
you had been taken back to Paris. At the interview at 
Pillnitz, the King of Prussia offered to march his troops in- 
stantly. The emperor would not consent. He wished to 
wait until he knew the answer of the Empress of Ptussia to 
his propositions, — although that princess had never disguised 
from him her sentiments and the zeal she put into your 
cause ; and when Prince Hohenlohe was sent by the King of 
Prussia to Prague to settle the operations and the marching 
of the troops, he obtained neither an audience of the emperor 
nor an answer. And finally, when the news of the accept- 
ance of the Constitution came the emperor would not see in 
it, as the rest of us did, the effect of compulsion and tyranny. 
He received the French ambassador, and induced the King 
of Prussia to do the same and to make a reply which that 
prince would not have done had he followed his own feelings 
supported by letters from the Empress of Eussia. But what 
is still more fatal is that the emperor makes use of your 
letters, Madame ; and thus, covering himself with the segis 
of your name, he embarrasses even your most sincere friends ; 



216 DIARY AND COREESPONDENCE OF [chap. vtii. 

and I have long trembled lest these representations should 
cause the King of Spain to weaken and abandon the firm 
conduct he has hitherto maintained. Happily, that prince, 
being, as a Bourbon, personally interested in your cause, has 
continued up to this time immovable in right principles. 

There, Madame, is the truth that I owe you, given at the 
risk of displeasing you ; it is in the discretion of Y. M. that 
I confide. You will feel that if ever your brother should be 
informed of what I have just written he would never forgive 
me for it, and a misunderstanding between us might be in- 
jurious to your affairs, — all the more because I am persuaded 
that, by the urgent solicitations of the Empress of Eussia, 
and provided the king be once more at liberty, the emperor 
may return to good feelings and join your defenders. 

But you see by all this how essential it is to put the king 
in a position to speak the language that becomes him ; to 
put yourself, Madame, in the way of urging your brother to 
succour you, — a succour all the more to be desired because 
the territories of the emperor surround France and it is 
through them or by the sea that we can reach you. The 
pains he has taken to set aside the proposal for a congress, 
which by its results, might have led him farther than he 
wished ; the pains that he took by his last note, to induce us 
to make a declaration which, though the terms were threat- 
ening, was, nevertheless, in recognition of the present state 
of things as accomplished in France, — all this ought to prove 
to Y. M. the indispensable necessity of drawing your friends 
from error, or, to express it better, to give them weapons 
with which to plead your cause. 

The measures which I make bold to propose to you for 
your escape are also essential. The passage to England is 
the shortest and least suspected, and I implore you in God's 
name to make the king adopt it, and to employ all the 



1791] COUNT AXEL EERSEN. 217 

ascendency you have acquired over his mind to induce him 
to take this step. I have instructed the person who will 
give you this letter in all that I do not venture to confide 
to paper, in order that he may give a detailed account of 
it to Y. M. You know his devotion ; and the unequivocal 
sign that he now gives of it m bearing to you this packet 
through great perils is no slight thing. It is a proof of such 
great attachment that it rouses all my gratitude and my 
admiration, for I should never have resolved to command 
him to go had he not offered it himself. I will not doubt that 
a zeal so rare will have its reward in the fortunate success 
of his commission. For myself, Madame, I count myself 
happy in proving to Y. M. that in whatever position you find 
yourself I will never abandon you, and never cease to be, 
with those sentiments, Madame, my sister and cousin, 

Your Majesty's 
good brother, cousin, friend, and ally, 

GUSTAVUS. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 
No. 1. December 22, 1791. 

I received your little letter yesterday. I should be un- 
easy at your not having received our letters if the date of 
yours were possible ; you have dated it 19th and I received it 
21st ; no post can go so quickly. I had already received four 
printed sheets; I warmed them, and wet them with the 
liquid, but found nothing, 

I am very uneasy at getting no answer to the last letters. 
It has been impossible to send any one to Vienna ; I could 
find no one strong enough, or sufficiently safe and discreet 
for that errand. I am sorry ; it is very important that the 
emperor should know our true intentions, and that I should 
at last know what we can count on from him ; for without it 



218 DIARY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. viii. 

I shall be daily dragged into taking false steps ; my lan- 
guage and my manner to the people about me ought to 
change according to what we ought and may expect from 
without. I am strongly inclined to send you M. Goguelat, 
if only for three days, that he may talk things to the bottom 
with you. I have not yet spoken to him of this idea. Send 
me word what you think of it. He knows nothing of my 
correspondence with the persons the bishop named to you ; 
he must not be told of it. 

There is talk here of a loan of forty millions which the 
emigre nobles want to raise upon their property ; this is 
madness, and it will end by the pillage of their estates. If 
the baron has the means of doing so, he must let our 
brothers know, and we authorize him to do it, that we cannot 
approve of this idea, which will be the ruin of those good 
people. 

I have missed the opportunity to send this letter. Begin- 
ning with this one I shall number them all that go by the 
post either in white ink or in cipher. Do the same. We must 
keep a bit of paper on which to mark them down and see 
that none are missing. Adieu. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie-Antoinette. 

December 22, 1791. 
I hope you have received the letter in which I proposed to 
you to write to the Queen of Spain. I think that step 
important. Also it will be well in the end to write to the 
King of England and the Stadth older ; but the time for that 
has not come. Send me word if you will decide to do it. 
Baron de Breteuil has invited M. de Brautzen, who is very 
well-intentioned for you and whom it would be good to treat 
well, to write to the Stadtholder [the archduchess Marie 
Christine], with whom he is reconciled, asking her to induce 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 219 

th.e King of Prussia to come out more firmly, and also to 
make a definite proposal to the emperor, which would prove 
to all Europe the falsity of the doubts the latter casts on his 
good-will and show that the inaction comes only from the 
emperor. These propositions wiU not compromise him ; for 
he is always master of acting only as much as the emperor 
acts. 

It is very important that you should put your papers in a 
safe place where they cannot be discovered, for you ought 
to be prepared for everything. 

M. de Toulangeon — the one who came from Franche- 
Comt6 — was hurt by the coldness with which his good 
intentions were received. Do you not think that, without 
too highly distinguishing them, it would be well to show to 
persons of good-feeling and good-will certain marks of kind- 
ness? No one knows better than you how to use that 
money. 

The Duke of Brunswick is a man of intelligence, talents, 
and a great ambition. Do you not think it important to 
win him ? He has always liked France ; and the French 
service is the one he would have chosen by preference in 
which to place his son, of whom he is very fond. An 
advance toward him might do great good and promote your 
affairs in Prussia. He could be made to hope something for 
his son. If you think this useful, a rather distinguished 
man, who would please him, should be sent to him. The 
Marquis de Castries would be good for that, or failing him, 
M. de Bouill^. Let me know if you adopt this idea. I have 
not yet spoken to the baron about it, but I am sure he will 
approve. Your letters for Sweden and Prussia have not yet 
arrived, and I feel uneasy. Sending by diligence is the 
safest and surest way. Your letter for Spain went by the 
Comte de Seuil by way of England, the Marquis de Bom- 



220 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. viii. 

belles, who is to carry the one to Eussia, has not yet arrived 

here. 

Monday. 

We learned yesterday of the step the king has taken; as I 
am ignorant of the reasons and the object, I must own to you 
that it astounds and grieves me.^ I fear that they have given 
you treacherous advice. I fear that you have taken hastily 
a step, good in itself, and which might have been useful to 
you at another moment if concerted with the Powers, and if 
the latter had been ready to act for you by seeming to sus- 
tain the German princes. I think the king ought to have 
let himself be forced by the Assembly, and then, yielding to 
their desire, have represented to them how embarrassing such 
action was at a moment when peace was needed for the 
establishment of the Constitution, for the restoration of the 
finances, for the security of the public debt, and to avoid 
increased taxation upon the people. 

As it is now, I see only a source of embarrassment for you, 
additional dangers, and the bad effect that this will have in 
Europe. It will be attributed to the weakness already laid 
to you ; discouragement will take hold of the friendly Powers ; 
in fact, what idea can those to whom you have just addressed 
letters and on whom you have sought to rely have when they 
learn from the public newspapers so important a step, with- 
out knowtag its motives or being warned of it by M. de 
Breteuil ? They will be tempted to believe you have only a 

1 The decree of the Legislative Assembly against the emigre's, compelling 
their return to France under penalties of death and confiscation, was 
vetoed by the king November 14, 1791 ; he also vetoed, November 27th, a 
decree of the Assembly forbidding all priests who had not taken the civil 
oath to exercise their ministry. On the 14th of December the king, to mod- 
ify the effect of his vetoes, went in person before the Assembly and made an 
explanation, ending by virtually threatening to declare war against the 
princes of Germany. See Thiers' " Histoire de la Revolution Francaise," 
vol. ii., pp. 20-39.— Tr. 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 221 

half-confidence in him ; and that belief will make his negoti- 
ations more difficult ; they will even suspect, and with some 
foundation, your intentions, and the confidence you appeared 
to place in them will seem doubtful. Having adopted the 
plan proposed, no important step should have been taken 
without consulting them ; or, at least, without consulting M. 
de Breteuil, who, being better informed as to the disposition of 
those Powers would have told you the effect such a step 
would have ; or, at least, he would have been in a position 
to give them the reasons that led you to take it, and so pre- 
vent the bad impression it will produce. 

I know there are circumstances in which you might be 
obliged to decide and act promptly ; but as you can always 
foresee the possibility of this, we ought to be informed and 
the step delayed long enough for letters to reach us before 
the public papers, and thus enable us to guide the first im- 
pressions to the side most favourable to you. I know that 
confidence cannot be given, and I am far from asking more 
than you wish to grant to me; your interests alone guide 
me and will ever guide me ; and even if you could doubt the 
views and projects of M. de Breteuil, I have the vanity to 
think that my past conduct ought to take from you the 
possibility of doubting mine ; it ought, rather, to convince you 
of their purity, and of the zeal, attachment, and devotion I have 
consecrated to your service. My sole desire is to serve you ; 
my sweetest recompense, the only one to which I aspire, is 
the glory of succeeding in that — I want no other. I should be 
but too much rewarded if I could know you were happy and 
think that I had been happy enough to have contributed to it. 

I hope to receive a word from you which will guide me in 
what I must write to the King of Sweden, and give me the 
possibility of justifying and defending, to his eyes and those 
of the empress, the step that has just been taken. 



222 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. viii. 

Postscript. All that I have now written becomes useless 
for your letter to the baron and M. de Mercy has just arrived. 
Nevertheless, I must observe that it was very important to 
have received them earlier in order that the Powers should 
have been warned by you and not have learned your action 
from the public papers.^ 

Queen Marie- Antoinette to Count Fersen. 
No. 3 December 28, 1791. 

De Narbonne [minister of war] has a crazy idea, which I 
thought had fallen through : to invite the Duke of Bruns- 
wick to come here and command the army. The idea is so 
out of common-sense that I supposed nothing more would be 
said about it. Yesterday I heard that they were going to 
send the little de Custine to the duke to negotiate the affair. 
Comte de S^gur may have been commissioned to speak of it 
without our knowledge. I tell you of all this so as not to 
be scolded, and also that the baron and you may take your 
precautions. I have no doubt the duke will refuse; and 
that will be serving us. Adieu. I have not yet received 
the packet of M. Crawford. . . . ^ 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

January 4, 1792. 

I can only write one word. . . . The person who will bring 

you this will tell you and make you know our position just 

as it is. I have entire confidence in him and he deserves it 

for his attachment and his good sense [Count Fersen writes 

1 It will be observed that this letter is of the same date as the King of 
Sweden's memorial and letters to the King and Queen of France, which 
did not reach Count Fersen till the 8th of January, 1792. — Tr. 

2 This autographic letter was written in " white," or " sympathetic " ink, 
addressed on the outside to " Monsieur I'Abbe de Beauverin, Poste re- 
stante, Bruxelles." Count Fersen notes on the margin, " Re9U Jan. 
3. Rep : Jan. 5." See fac-simile. — Tr. 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 223 



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224 



DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vim. 




1791] COUNT AXEL TEESEN. 225 



i^a^ fei fiu mc^TJ'aiii /^itcft ui^i{j 
m tffit7i^) fur !6 ji^nTji f7ii//i,^ 



15 



226 DIARY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. viii. 

^tJ nC^lL-^EalJ V'^^ll %^^tc;; e7^^ 



1791] 



COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 



227 



jinn^^i or^t^,' ^fiyt^ie^'/f /fieri f^^ 



f 






if- 









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ijui e^^^ipt^ i^^:;T£c micJe eii^c. 




228 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. vin. 

" Goguelat " on the margin]. He carries witli him an ab- 
surd memorial, but I was forced to send it. It is important 
that the Emperor should be convinced there is not a word of 
our own in it, nor of our manner of seeing things ; but he 
must make me an answer as if he believed it was my way 
of seeing things, which I can show ; for they are so distrust- 
ful here they will exact an answer. The bearer of these 
papers does not know by whom they are dictated to me and 
must not be spoken to about them. The memorial is ill- 
written and shows that these wretches are in fear; but for 
our personal safety they have to be managed, and, above all, 
we must inspire confidence in them by our conduct here. 
All that will be explained to you, also the reasons why I 
often cannot warn you in advance of what they are going to 
do here. My man has not yet returned ; I wish I could have 
some news from where you are. What is the meaning of 
this sudden declaration of the Emp. ? Why this profound 
silence of Vienna, and even of Brussels towards me ? I am 
lost in conjectures, but what I know well is this : if it is 
prudence or policy that makes them say nothing to me, they 
are very wrong and expose me much, because no one believes 
that I can be in such ignorance ; and yet it is necessary that 
I should regulate my words and my conduct on what is tak- 
ing place : that is what I have told this person to say to 
M. de Mercy. I must end. . . . 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to the Queen of Spain. 
Madame, my sister and cousin : January 4, 1792. 

I desired much to be able to write to Y. M. at the same 
time that the king wrote to the King of Spain, but time then 
failed me, and we are forced to be so circumspect in all our 
actions that I have had to await an opportunity to send this 
letter to the Baron de Breteuil in Brussels, who, as you know 



1791] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 229 

has all our confidence. I write to you, Madame, with all 
the more pleasure, to connect myself with the letter the 
king has already written, because the nobleness of your 
character and the double tie of blood which unites you with 
us leaves me no doubt of the interest you will take in regard 
to us. Be so kind, therefore, as to maintain the King of 
Spain in his good-will towards our interests. The letter he 
has received from the king will explain to him our true 
sentiments, and we can have no others. It is unnecessary to 
say to Y. M. that the greatest secrecy is necessary; your 
prudence and our position make it obvious enough. As for 
me, Madame, I shall be charmed to owe you an obligation, 
and to add that sentiment to the friendship and attachment 
I have so long, and for my life, vowed to you. 

Marie-Antoinette. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie-Antoinette. 

Beussels, January 6, 1792. 
An aide-de-camp of M. de Jaucourt has brought to Ath 
[near Brussels] an order for the assemblage of emigres there 
collected to take itself to the frontiers of the Elector of Treves. 
You will readily see the annoyances of this operation, and 
how disadvantageous it may be: 1st, it increases the embar- 
rassment of the Electors and forces you to put yourself on the 
defensive, which it was desirable to delay until there was 
better preparation made outside ; 2d, it is one means the less 
of compromising the emperor; and 3d, it is giving the 
Assembly the facility to represent this departure as the 
result of the king's threats. It may excite the Electors to 
the same conduct ; they will no longer be able to reply that 
they conform in their States to the course of the Low Coun- 
tries ; and from the knowledge I have of the emperor's 
intentions I should not be at all surprised if he supports this 



230 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. viii. 

demand. I know that he is determined not to furnish to 
the Electors and princes of the Empire more than the con- 
tingent he is forced to send as a co-State. He fears war ; he 
fears to be mixed up in your affairs; and having now no 
assemblage of the French in his own States, he may ezact 
that there shall be none in those of others. Baron de 
Breteuil has written to the Marquis de Castries to stop, if 
possible, the departure of the emigres] I have written the 
same to Baron Oxenstjerna. 

The answer of the king to the emperor seems to me a 
little too strong ; do you not think it best to hold one's self 
in readiness to make war, but to delay the moment of begin- 
ning it until a concert is established, with sufficient force to 
be a support to you ? Do you not think it would have been 
best to say that, if at a fixed epoch the Elector of Treves has 
not dispersed the assemblages, the king will rely on the good 
offices of the emperor to compel him to do so. I think it 
important to grant the Elector of Treves a second period — 
till the 1st or 15th of February, if possible ; this delay would 
give us time to receive answers. Could not the king derive 
some benefit from the desire he has to preserve peace and 
avoid war, always ruinous, but especially so at this moment 
when the finances require such great attention ? 

The King of Prussia to Ms Very Christian Majesty the King 

of France. 
Monsieur, my brother : January 14, 1792. 

I have just received the letter that Y. M. wrote to me 
December 3d, and which the Baron de Breteuil forwarded. 
I recognize with keen sensibility the confidence you testify 
in me, and I beg you to be fully convinced that M. de 
Moustier expressed to you my true sentiments in speaking 
to you of the sincere interest I take in your situation and 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 231 

that of the queen, your august wife, and the desire which 
animates me to be useful to both, in order to bring about a 
state of things more in conformity with your wishes. 

As a result of these dispositions I am much inclined to 
enter into the views of Y. M. in regard to the establishment 
of an armed congress, and I shall in consequence sound H. 
M. the emperor immediately on that subject, having so far 
followed a confidential concert on the affairs of Erance with 
him, to whom Y. M. iuforms me you have made the same 
proposition. In spite of the slowness and difficulty which 
the arrangement of an armed congress will necessarily meet 
with, I like to thiak that its effects and the impression 
which will result will answer the expectations of Y. M. 
But, with all the good-will with which I feel myself inspired 
for your interests, I cannot at the same time refuse to con- 
sider the very considerable expenses to which this measure 
will give rise, and, father of my people, I shall say, with 
frankness, to a king who has given such strong proofs of the 
same sentiments, that a just indemnity for those costs seems 
to me indispensable to conciliate the services which I hope 
to render to Y. M. in conformity with my cares for the wel- 
fare of the State I govern. 

I shall take pleasure in communicating, through my 
minister, Count Schulemburg, with the Baron de Breteuil, 
whom Y. M. honours with your confidence and who so justly 
deserves it, on all that relates to this important object; but 
I shall be charmed at the same time to receive direct news 
from Y. M. as often as you judge that you can give them to 
me in safety ; as for the secrecy you ask of me, the great 
necessity for which I feel perfectly, I will guarantee you that 
it shall be religiously and strictly observed by myself and 
by those to whom the matter must be confided by me; 
but you will feel, without difficulty, that I cannot answer 



232 DIAKY AND CORRESPONDENCE OE [chap. vni. 

for th.e secrecy of the other Courts which must concur 
in it. 

I end this letter by reiterating to Y. M. the ardent and 
sincere desires that I form for you and your royal family, 
and the assurance of the invariable sentiments of considera- 
tion and attachment with which I am, Monsieur, my brother, 

Your Majesty's good brother, 

Feedeeick William. 

Baron Tauhe to Count Fersen. 

Stockholm, January 17, 1792. 

The courier from Hamburg arrived last Saturday evening, 
and everything came safely. The King of Sweden is per- 
fectly satisfied with the letter of the Queen of France to him, 
and with the one she has written to the empress ; but he is 
not as much so with the one that the King of France has 
written to the King of Spain. The King of Sweden thinks 
that the help and succour he wants of him are not strongly 
enough defined, and that the king has not said to the King 
of Spain that he desires no compromise with the rebels and 
not to have a mixed government, but to see the monarchy 
restored with the royal power in all its plenitude. The 
King of Sweden charges me to tell you, my friend, that 
if the King of France does not persist in those sentiments 
all foreign help will be useless to him, and his power will be 
equally useless to his friends and allies. The King of 
Sweden strongly approves of the conduct the King of France 
is holding at the present moment towards the rebels ; they 
cannot be too much lulled into security ; but with his friends 
he ought never to talk of, or propose, anything but the re- 
establishment of the monarchy in its entirety, such as it was 
before the revolution. 

As for the proposal to take Denmark into the league, that 



1792] COUNT AXEL TERSEN. 233 

is impossible ; for the twenty years that the King of Sweden 
has reigned, Eussia has tried in vain to force him to make a 
triple alliance between Eussia, Denmark, and himself, with- 
out ever being able to succeed. Therefore that idea must be 
totally left out of the projects of the king and queen if they 
want his support. Between ourselves, my friend, if it had 
not been for the foolish consideration which France has 
shown from all time for Denmark, contrary to the interests 
of Sweden, we should to-day be much more powerful, and 
consequently more useful at the present moment to France. 

The King of Sweden has written to the King of Prussia 
to warn him of S^gur's arrival, so that he may send him 
away. The King of Sweden will also write to the empress 
on the subject of the congress ; about which Baron de Bre- 
teuil is urgent in the name of the King and Queen of 
France. 

The King of Sweden to Count Fersen. 

The little castle of new Haga, 
January 20, 1792. 

I received on Saturday last the packet that Eeutersvaerd 
brought to Hamburg. My departure for Gefle, and the 
numerous occupations which the opening of the Diet occa- 
sions me, prevent my writing to you at length; but the 
annexed paper will prove to you that I have adopted the 
measures that the King of France asked of me. I beg you 
to tell this to the Baron de Breteuil, and though I hope 
nothing from such a congress, which will serve more to 
embroil the sovereigns than unite them, and am convinced 
that the emperor will refuse it, still I wish to show the 
King of France that I conform to his wishes before the 
answer of the emperor can be given. If the Assembly goes 
on with its present rapidity we shall be obliged to have 



234 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. viii. 

recourse to methods much less slow than a congress. Mean- 
time, I i7isist on the necessity of getting the king out of Paris. 
On which I pray God to have you in His holy keeping, 

being 

Your very affectionate 

GUSTAVUS. 

Count Fersen to the King of Sweden. 

Brussels, January 22, 1792. 

Sire, — According to the letter which your Majesty did 
me the honour to write to me December 30, I hastened to 
send to the queen the details on the disposition of the 
Empress of Eussia which concerned her and would prove to 
her the necessity for a firm and persistent line of conduct 
and plan. I hope before long and as soon as they think it 
suitable, to explain everything more in detail to the king 
and queen and to learn more positively their resolutions. 

The Queen of France has been forced to send to the 
emperor a memorial written in her name by MM. Barnave, 
Lameth, and Duport, without the knowledge of the present 
Assembly and in which it is very ill-treated. In this memorial, 
which is very bad and ill-written, they endeavour to frighten 
the emperor as to the results of a war with France ; suggest- 
ing to him the seductions which will be offered to his sol- 
diers, and the propagation of the new doctrines of equality 
and liberty which will be spread in all the countries where 
the French army may go. They next attempt to prove to 
him, by very false arguments, the interest it is to him (even 
for his Belgian provinces) to ally himself with France and 
to maintain the Constitution such as it was decreed by the 
former Assembly. One can see in every line of this memo- 
rial that fear dictated it, and that it is only a means at- 
tempted to detach the emperor from the general league, and 



1792] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 235 

especially from the idea of a congress, — a step which they 
seem to dread above everything. 

The queen thought that she ought to consent to send this 
memorial and have the air of adopting it; she even de- 
sired that her brother should make her an ostensible reply to 
it, which she could show to its authors to convince them of 
her simulated sincerity ; and I have the honour to send Y. M. 
a copy of a private letter which the queen wrote on this 
subject to the emperor, also passages from the one she did 
me the honour to write to me about it. When remitting 
these papers to M. de Mercy I iuformed Baron de Breteuil 
about them ; and in the conversation which they had about 
them on the following day M. de Mercy said that he did not 
think the memorial bad, that there were several good things 
in it which he thought quite reasonable. Y. M. can judge 
of the surprise of M. de Breteuil and his indignation ; and 
finally, seeing that he was unable to convince M. de Mercy, 
he ended by representing to him that the King and Queen 
of France, regarding the matter from another point of view 
and asking of the emperor a reply analogous to their opinion, 
had the right to hope for it. This conversation with M. de 
Mercy, joined to what M. de Semonville said to General 
Wrangel, has made me suspect that Mercy had already 
knowledge of the memorial, and that it was made in concert 
with him ; for I have long suspected and I have several indi- 
cations of a correspondence between him and the factious 
part of the former Assembly, of which the emperor was 
aware. Baron de Breteuil has been of my opinion, and be- 
lieves as I do. I have thought it necessary to inform Y. M. 
of these details, in the belief that the emperor will seek to 
make a further bad use of the sending of this memorial. 

The dispersion of the emigres [warned out of the States of 
the princes of Germany] is no doubt a misfortune for them, 



236 DIAEY AND COREESPONDENCE OF [chap. viii. 

but I do not think it harmful to the cause. To succeed, all 
must advance together ; the within must not go faster than 
the without. In fact, what aid would the king have at this 
moment to sustain a movement made by the emigres in his 
favour ? These movements, whatever they are, can never 
have a great effect without the aid of some foreign power ; 
and the season does not allow Y. M. or the empress to fur- 
nish at this moment the assistance you are determined to 
give. . . c 

The reason why the queen cannot inform us in time of 
what is about to be done is the rapidity with which deter- 
minations are made and executed. Tliat of the summons to 
the Electors [princes of Germany] and the going of the king 
to the Assembly was decided at eleven o'clock at night ; the 
speech was made up during the night and delivered the next 
day. And so with other matters. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie-Antoinette. 

January 24, 1792. - 

You will see by the letter of the King of Prussia that his 
inclinations are good, but that he will do nothing without 
the emperor. There is nothing, therefore, to do but to push 
the King of Prussia into making propositions to the latter. 

I have received a perfect letter from Spain, of which I will 
send you the details. Those of Eussia are the same. The 
empress writes to the King of Sweden: "Perhaps the Queen 
of France will herself feel the necessity of claiming the 
assistance of her brother. Y. M. ought to know better than 
I if it would be dif&cult to iaduce her to do so." The 
empress will be entirely convinced as to that by your letter. 
She says, farther on: "The more the cause we plead is 
worthy of all our care, and tlie more we neglect nothing that 
will enable it to triumph, the more we shall have, my dear 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 237 

brother, with our contemporaries and with posterity, the 
merit of not having desisted from so noble an enterprise 
without making every possible effort to surmount the diffi- 
culties which we encounter." 

But the king and empress both insist on another flight, as 
to which I shall bring you a memorial and the letters of the 
king. His project is that it be executed by sea and by the 
English, of whom only two will be in the secret. I shall also 
bring you new proofs of the emperor's conduct. They say 
the Queen of Portugal is well-disposed ; she has a great deal 
of money, and they think she would give it. I think it 
would be well to write to her ; it might decide her. 

Mme. de Vaudemont is in Paris to prevent the seizure of 
her house or to obtain an indemnity for it ; but as she carries 
with her the resignation of MM. de Lambesc and Vaude- 
mont, you will believe no doubt that they are not obliged to 
give her anything, nor yet to grant the pensions those men 
are now demanding, especially not to M. de Vaudemont ; if 
M. de Lambesc gets 20,000 or 30,000 francs it is all he can 
hope for. Also, as you can suppose, he will not be allowed 
to sell his office. He proposed to do so to Baron de Breteuil's 
son-in-law for 300,000 francs. The latter refused it, saying 
he thought the king ought not to fetter himself in that way, 
and that he should no longer tolerate the sale of offices. But 
the baron asks the king's kindness to give that office to his 
son-in-law some day, adding, when he mentioned it to me : 
" He thinks well, and he is too rich to ask the king for any- 
thing, and enough so to keep up a great state" — besides 
which, he is too stupid ever to be troublesome or meddle in 
public matters. I will pay the baron the 22,000 francs that are 
due to him ; but I must be authorized to remit to him 20,000 
or 30,000 more (for which he will render an account), outlay 
on couriers, etc., which it is indispensable he should make. 



238 DIARY AND COREESPONDENCE OF [chap. viii. 

The loss on money is terrible ; it is 40 per cent ; that is to say, 
of the . . . which you have in Holland you will only get . . . 
I will send you an exact account. I have decided to draw 
it all out and deposit it, for fear the loss may increase. I 
have the same loss on all that I draw myself. 

I shall make all my arrangements to arrive on the 3d at 
six in the evening. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie- Antoinette. 

February 6, 1792. 

It is absolutely necessary that you be drawn from the state 
in which you are, and only violent means can do it. . . . 

The little archduke told the officers at the Order that all 
must be ready by March 1, that 6000 men had already 
started, that 14,000 more were ready to follow them ; and 
that war with France seemed certain. M. de Metternich 
says that they are going to change their language at last, that 
he was only awaiting the decision of the council of Brabant 
(about the persons lately arrested) to send a very strong 
note on that subject to M. de la Gravifere. He added that 
we should soon hear news from Prussia more important 
than that of the suicide of M. de S^gur. In spite of this 
I shall believe in nothing from the emperor until I see 
its effects. 

It is said here that they want the king to veto the decree 
on passports. Those who advise this act will try to make it 
seem an act of liberty. I think the king ought to sanction. 
The factious would represent his veto as a proof that he 
wants to go away and preserve the means of doing so. Be- 
sides, this decree is a vexatious thing which bears hard upon 
the people, on account of the stamped paper, and it is well 
to let them feel its weight. Moreover, in spite of the king's 
veto, the Jacobins, by their influence, will continue to harass 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 239 

travellers. The veto will be good for nothing ; people will 
still be obliged to get passports. 

Count Fersen to Baron Taule. 

Brussels, Eebruary 14, 1792. 

My deae Friend, — All is once more changed, and I start 
for Paris in an hour. It may be necessary, to avoid suspi- 
cion, that I should make a turn towards Spain. In any case 
I shall be back here by the 23d or 25th. 

M. de Simolin [private envoy of the Empress of Eussia] 
is here ; he goes to Vienna from the queen, to tell the em- 
peror their true position and their desires, and to urge him 
to act. In the conversation he had with her, the queen 
said : " Tell the emperor there is nothing to fear for us : the 
nation has need of the king, and that his son shall live ; they 
must be rescued ; as for me, I fear nothing. I prefer to sub- 
ject myself to anything rather than live longer in the state 
of degradation in which I am ; anything seems to me prefer- 
able to the horror of our position." 

My friend, those words are significant, and Simolin has 
written them to the empress. The queen has also written 
to her about Simolin's journey : and she wrote the same to 
the emperor, and a charming letter to Prince Kaunitz, beg- 
ging them to put entire confidence in Simolin. I hope for 
good effects from that step. 

Baron Taube to Count Fersen. 

Gefle, February 16, 1792. 
The King of Sweden writes by post to-day to Stael [his 
ambassador in Paris] an order not to return to Sweden ; it 
ought to meet him at Hamburg in case he took the course 
of returning here, which is against the king's orders. 



240 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OE [chap. viii. 

The king is very well pleased with the letters of the King 
of Prussia, but he is in despair at the memorial which the 
queen let herself be forced by Barnave and others to write 
to the emperor, — especially after the letters she had just 
written to and received from the other sovereigns. In the 
first place, she is the dupe of the scoundrels who have wrung 
this memorial from her, for they will betray her ; then it 
has shown them that she has means of communication, which 
they will now spy upon and iutercept in the end. We may 
also be certain that the emperor will make a bad use of that 
paper, in spite of the private letter that the queen wrote to 
him. The King of Sweden has just warned the empress of 
this, in. order that she may not be misled by the emperor. 

I disapprove strongly of what the queen has done in this 
matter ; for who or what forced her to enter into negotiations 
or speak with Barnave and consorts ? Besides, my friend, he 
who undertakes to deceive too many persons at once, de- 
ceives no one. The queen has but one rSle to play, so long 
as she remains shut up in Paris : which is to never trust her- 
self to a Frenchman while she lives in Prance, not even if 
she believes him well-intentioned ; but she ought to make 
every one, and every new-comer believe that she desires to 
live according to the Constitution on all its points. That is 
the only way to put those rebels to sleep. 

I feel, my friend, how impossible it wUl be to separate the 
King of France from the queen and the dauphin ; I think it 
is a necessity that they shall stay together. But as for 
Madame Elisabeth and the little girl, I do not think it neces- 
sary that they should go too, or be even notified of the go- 
ing ; all confidence in this matter is too risky. Besides, they 
risk nothing in staying behind ; the fury of the rebels will 
not be turned against them. 

That which distresses me most is to see that nothing ad- 



1792] COUNT AXEL FEKSEN. 241 

vances ; that all is hemmed in by intrigues and negotiations 
which have no result. The king hears nothing more of 
pecuniary succour from Spain; and without money it is 
absolutely impossible to march his troops or send his ships 
to sea. Another misfortune is, that the winter is very 
severe this year, so that our ports will probably not be open 
before the end of May. Otherwise, the army by land and 
sea is in a complete state to advance. It only needs money 
to set it in motion, provide the commissariat, and purchase 
horses for the artillery and baggage-waggons. 



16 



242 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ix. 



CHAPTEE IX. 

1792. Count Fersen's Diary. — His fruitless Mission to tlie King and 
Queen in Paris. — Death of the Emperor Leopold. — Death of Gus- 
tavus III. King of Sweden. — Advance and repulse of the French army 
under the Comte de Rochambeau. — Efforts to induce England to assist 
in the rescue of the King and Queen. — The 10th of August. — Im- 
prisonment of the Royal Family in the Temple. — Fatal retreat of the 
Duke of Brunswick. — The Due de Choiseul's Account of August 10th, 
and of the Arrest at Varennes. 

January 1, 1792. Brussels, The Elector of Cologne has 
given orders to all the French refugees at Andernach to leave 
his State. He asked the archduchess for protection by the 
troops of the emperor. She replied that she had no orders 
for that. 

2d. Memorial of the queen to the emperor ; detestable ; 
made by Barnave, Lameth, and Duport ; intended to frighten 
the emperor and prove to him that his interest is not to 
make war, but to maintain the Constitution, for fear the 
French may propagate their doctrines and debauch his 
soldiery. Letters from the queen to the emperor, the Queen 
of Spain, and to me. Memorial and letters to King and 
Queen of France [from King of Sweden] well done. 

11th. Letter from Crawford; he has seen queen and 
talked with her. They want to send the Bishop of Autun 
[Talleyrand] to London to negotiate ; little Custine to 
Brunswick ; they expect to gain all by money. 

14th. The Abbd de Limon, just returned from Paris, 
says that minds are amazingly changed; that the people 
desire a change, and that some one should come to 
their relief; they want the Constitution, but with great 
changes. 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 243 

18th. M. de la Galissonni^re says that two or three hun- 
dred of the bourgeois of Paris are going in parties of ten 
or twelve to Kehl, where they have rendezvous ; thence to 
the princes. Two came to his house and asked him the 
way. They each had twenty-five louis. 

21st. The queen consents that I shall go to Paris. 

24th. The Princesse de Tarente has arrived. News from 
Paris of a riot about the dearness of sugar, which costs three 
livres, five sous. They pillaged the hotel of the Americans, 
it is said, and several grocers' shops. Sugar was sold in the 
market for twenty-four sous. My departure for Paris is 
fixed for the 3d of February. 

29th. Letter from the queen, begging me to defer my 
journey untH the decree about the passports is given, and 
tranquillity is more established in Paris. Much is being 
said about the departure of the king, and the newspapers 
indicate by way of Calais. This is the fruit of French indis- 
cretion; those who imagine a project tell it to everybody, and 
spies are sent to the spot. 

February 1. Dined with La Marck. Much talk of Mira- 
beau and all his intrigues with Lafayette. La Marck is an 
intriguer. The Priace of Nassau wrote to the Comte 
d'Artois that he was very well pleased with the emperor, 
who would act. The Comte dArtois wrote it to the Prince 
de Cond^, and the Prince de Cond6 sent the original letter to 
be read by all the gentlemen in his service. 

3d. Letter from the queen ; says it is impossible, on 
account of private passports, that I should go, and I must 
renounce it. Bad for me and for affairs. They feign to sus- 
pect the king's escape, and the rumour is spread in Paris to 
prevent the new guard of the king from entering upon its 
functions, which is for the 10th, and the decree on passports 
is made to prevent his departure ; the means are not bad. 



244 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ix. 

6 til. I have determined to go to Paris on a letter from 
the queen telling me that the decree on the passports will 
not be sanctioned; Frenchmen who have passed in very 
well write to say so. 

9th. Simolin arrived from Paris at eleven o'clock with- 
out any obstacle. Dined with him at Breteuil's. He is 
going to Vienna from the queen to inform the emperor of 
their position, the state of France, and their positive desire 
for succour. He saw them secretly ; the queen said : " Tell 
the emperor the nation has too much need of the king and 
his son for them to have anything to fear ; they are the ones 
it is important to rescue. As for me, I fear nothing, and I 
would rather run all possible dangers than live any longer in 
my present state of degradation and unhappiness." Simolin 
was touched to tears as he spoke of it. He told me of the 
queen's charming letters to the emperor and the empress and 
Prince Kaunitz. M. de Mercy, whom he had seen, held the 
usual language. Simolui reproached him for his conduct, 
so different from that indicated in his declarations at Padua ; 
he told him he had deceived the Powers, and he forced him 
to admit it. 

The orders of the Empress of Eussia to Simolin were : to 
make the declaration at Padua, to rally always to the most 
vigorous measure that was proposed, without waiting for new 
instructions, and to leave Paris at once if the other ministers 
left. 

10th. All my arrangements are made to start. 

11th. Saturday. Started at half-past nine in a courier's 
chaise with Eeutersvaerd, and no servant. We had a 
courier's passport for Portugal under feigned names. The 
letters and memorial of the king [of Sweden] to the Kiug 
of France, addressed to the Queen of Portugal, I put into 
an envelope of the ambassador of Sweden to Paris, with a 



1792] COUNT AXEL TERSEN. 245 

false cipher to which I counterfeited the signature of the 
king, and another cipher, also false, for Bergstedt, charge 
d'affaires ; the whole sealed with arms of Sweden, made here. 
I had also, for my own safety, a letter accrediting me to the 
Queen of Portugal. 

By eight o'clock we were at Tournai, where we slept. 

12th. Left at half-past three in the morning. Eeuters- 
vaerd went in the evening to see M. d'Aponcourt, command- 
ant, to get the gates opened. He took him for a Swedish 
courier, and told him he would not get to Paris in fifteen 
days, and would be stopped everywhere. At Orchies nothing 
was said to us : we breakfasted at Bouchain, dined at Bona- 
vis, and slept at Gournai ; our chaise broke down at P^ronne 
and we were there four hours. Eeached Gournai at half- 
past one in the morning. I kept myself hidden ; I had a 
wig. Everywhere they were very polite, especially at 
Peronne, — even the National Guard. 

13th, Monday. Fine and mild. Started at half-past nine. 
Stopped two hours at Louvres for dinner ; reached Paris 
without accident at half-past five in the evening, without a 
word being said to us. Left my officer at the Hotel des 
Princes, rue Eichelieu; took a fiacre to go to Goguelat, rue 
Pelletier. The coachman did not know the way. Another 
fiacre told us. Goguelat was not there ; waited in the street 
till half-past six. Did not come. Felt uneasy. Went to 
join Eeutersvaerd. He could not get a room at the Hotel 
des Princes and they did not know where he had gone. Ee- 
turned to Goguelat. Not in. Decided to wait in the street. 
At last at seven he came. My letter had only arrived at 
midday that morning, and they had not been able to decipher 
it earlier. Went to the queen ; took my usual way ; afraid 
of the National Guard ; did not see the king. 

14th. Very fine and mild. Saw the king at six in the 



246 DIAKY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ix. 

evening. He will not leave ; cannot, on account of extreme 
vigilance ; but the truth is, he has scruples, having so often 
promised to remain — for he is an honest man. He has, 
however, consented that when the armies arrive, he will go 
with smugglers, always through woods, and let himself be 
met by a detachment of light-troops. He wants the con- 
gress to concern itself at first solely with his demands and 
if they are granted then to insist that he shall leave Paris for 
some place chosen for the ratification. If this is refused, he 
consents that the Powers shall act, and he submits to all 
dangers. He thinks he risks nothing, because the rebels 
need him to obtain the terms of a capitulation. 

The king wore the cordon rouge [Order of Saint-Louis]. 
He sees that there is no resource except in force ; but, ia 
consequence of his feebleness, he thinks it impossible to re- 
cover all his authority. I proved to him the contrary ; told 
him it could be done by force and that the Powers desired 
to do it. He agreed. Nevertheless, if he is not constantly 
encouraged, I am afraid he will be tempted to negotiate with 
the rebels. 

After a time he said to me : " Ah, get ! here we are alone 
and we can speak. I know that I am taxed with weakness 
and irresolution, but no one was ever in my position. I 
know that I missed the right moment ; it was July 14 ; I 
ought to have gone then, and I wished it ; but what could 
I do when Monsieur himself begged me not to go, and Mar^- 
chal de Broglie who commanded said : ' Yes, we can go to 
Metz, but what shall we do when we get there ? ' — I lost 
the moment, and since then I have never found it ; I have 
been abandoned by all the world." He begged me to warn 
the Powers that they must not be shocked at anything he 
was obliged to do ; for he was obliged, — it was the effect of 
compulsion. ' They must,' he said, * put me entirely aside 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 247 

and let me act as I may.' He desired also that it should be 
explained to the Powers that he had sanctioned the decree 
on the sequestration of the property of the emigres solely 
for the purpose of preserving it; otherwise, it would have 
been pillaged and burned ; but that he would never consent 
to have it sold as national property. He also wished to veto 
the decree on passports. 

The queen told me that she saw Alex. Lameth and 
Duport ; that they told her incessantly there was no remedy 
but that of foreign troops ; without them all was lost ; that 
this state of things could not last ; that they themselves had 
gone farther than they wished ; that it was the folly of the 
aristocrats which had made their success, and the conduct 
of the Court, which could have arrested all if it had joined 
with them. They talked of aristocrats, but she thought it 
was really the effect of their hatred to the present Assembly, 
in which they are nothing and have no influence ; they are 
frightened, seeing that all must change, and they wish to 
make themselves a merit in advance. But she thinks them 
bad ; does not trust them ; but uses them, finding it serviceable 
to do so. All the ministers are traitors who betray the king. 
M. Cahier de Gerville is the worst, and threatens constantly 
to leave the Counil and denounce his associates. Bertrand 
[minister of the navy] is good, but alone he can do nothing. 
Narbonne and Lessart [war and post] will do everything to 
preserve themselves, and nothing for the king. Cahier de Ger- 
ville was a little lawyer at seven hundred francs a year. — 
Mile. Eocherette [the dauphin's maid, in fear of whom the 
flight to Varennes was delayed] was Gouvion's mistress and 
told him everything. She had nothing but suspicions. 
Questioned on the day after the departure, she said horrors 
about the queen ; being asked if she had not heard passing 
through that door, and whether, as she did not give warning, 



248 DIARY AND COREESPONDENCE OF [chap. ix. 

she was afraid, she said she heard passing so often after the 
king had gone to bed, that it seemed nothing new to her. — 
Eor some time, the guard was often tripled ; it was so on the 
afternoon of June 20. M. de Valori, who had been told he 
would be sent as courier with his two comrades, repeated it 
to his mistress, who was also the mistress of M. . . . one of 
the fanatics. — As the queen crossed the Great Carrousel she 
sent M. de . . . , who accompanied her and who did not 
know the way, to ask the sentinel on horseback where the 
Little Carrousel was. At Chalons they were recognized ; a 
man warned the mayor, who took the course of telling him 
that if he were sure he had only to make it public, but he 
must be responsible for results. The body-guard good 
for nothing. On the way back [from Varennes] M. de 
Dampierre, who came to see them, gave his arm to one of 
the dauphin's maids to help her into the carriage. She 
warned him to go away, as they were all against him. He 
said no. He mounted his horse, and fifty paces on they shot 
him like a rabbit on the plain ; when he fell from his horse 
they massacred him and came back to the carriage with 
their hands all bloody and carrying his head. — The queen 
gave a piece of beef-k-la-mode, which I had put into the 
carriage, to a man ; a voice cried out : " Don't eat it ; don't 
you see they want to poison you ? " The queen immediately 
ate some and gave some to the dauphin. — Latour-Maubourg 
and Barnave behaved very well. Potion was indecent. The 
first would not get into the carriage with the king ; he told 
them they might feel sure of him, but it was important to 
win over the two others. Potion told them he knew every- 
thing ; how they had taken a hired carriage close to the 
palace driven by a Swede named — here he pretended not 
to know my name and asked the queen to tell him. She 
replied : " I am not in the habit of knowing the names of 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 249 

hackney- coachmen." — Mile. Rocherette presented herself in 
full dress ; she expected to be their chamber-maid. Before 
the departm-e she had several times searched the queen's 
desk. — They were from six o'clock in the morning till seven 
at night from Meaux to the Tuileries, without daring to let 
down the blinds of the carriage. — During the next six 
weeks officers were in the adjoining room. They wanted to 
sleep in the queen's chamber. All she could obtain was that 
they would keep between the two doors ; two or three times 
during the night they came in to see if she was in her bed. 
Once, when she could not sleep and lit her lantern, an officer 
came in and established a conversation. A camp beneath 
the windows kept up an infernal uproar. Every night the 
officers in the room were relieved every two hours.^ 

21st. At six o'clock went out ; found Reuters vaerd, with 
whom I made all arrangements for departure at midnight. 
I accompanied Goguelat to take leave of the king and queen. 
The queen sent me word that the answer to the bad memo- 
rial she had sent to the emperor, written by Barnave, Lameth, 
and Duport, had just arrived and was detestable. I took 
tea and supped with them. At midnight I left them. 
Frantz let me out by the great gate. I did not find Reuters- 
vaerd, which made me uneasy. At the end of a quarter of 
an hour he came ; we went to his inn, where the landlord, 
though Protestant and a democrat, had loaded him with 
kindness, as did every one. 

At one o'clock we got into the carriage, — a light one with 
three horses. 

22d. Wednesday. Passed Senlis at half-past three without 
difficulty. At Pons, though the National Guard were already 

^ Further particulars of these interviews with the king and queen will 
be found in Count Fersen's report to the King of Sweden, February 29, 
1792. — Tk. 



250 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ix. 

afoot, nothing was said to us. We breakfasted at Gournai ; 
it snowed there for an hour rather hard ; then fine and cold. 
We were much delayed by the slippery roads. Eeached 
Bonavis at seven in the evening. Supped badly and slept in 
our clothes, in the cartmen's room. 

23 d. Fine, very cold. Started at half -past six, roads 
dreadful as far as Cambrai; stayed there one hour and a 
half ; the postilions would not start, on account of the roads, 
and the post-master told me that in times like these he could 
not force them to go. At last, one of them, in view of the 
lightness of our carriage agreed to do so. We passed Bou- 
chain very well, but at a little village of a dozen houses, half 
a league before Marchiennes, I was awakened by the stop- 
ping of the carriage, and some one asked Eeutersvaerd for 
his passport. I pretended to be asleep. After studying it 
five minutes, the man said it was worth nothing; it said 
" by the order of the king," and not " by order of the law ; " 
besides, there was no description of our persons ; it was not 
good. Eeutersvaerd got angry and said : " But it is a pass- 
port from the embassy; they ought to know how to write 
them, and our minister would never have given it to us if it 
was not all right." The man said : " It does not conform to 
the model we have; it is worth nothing." Then the pos- 
tilion, who saw the courier's badge, said: "But, monsieur, 
don't you see that these gentlemen are couriers ? You have 
no right to stop them." " Of course not," said Eeutersvaerd, 
" and Swedish couriers, too ; that is in the passport ; and 
here is that of our minister." The imbecile had never dis- 
covered this and at first, when he saw that Eeutersvaerd was 
polite, he was insolent. After reading the paper a second 
time he let us pass, saying that we must not be surprised if 
they stopped us at Marchiennes ; which was done at the only 
gate there was to the town by a sentinel in a gray jacket. 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 251 

The officer, in a brown coat, let us pass on our telling 
him we were couriers and showing him our passports. , . . 
By four o'clock we were at Tournai, where we dined well and 
in the same chamber where we slept on our way. What a 
difference ! We reached Brussels at three the next morning. 
My joy was great in ha\dng succeeded and being once more 
at home. 

27th. Baron de Breteuil warns me that M. de Mercy com- 
plains of the dissatisfaction the queen shows with the em- 
peror, and believes that I am the cause of it ; he gave the 
baron to understand that he had discovered this. It could 
only be through my letters, and I do not believe he could 
decipher them, for the Swedish cipher is very difficult ; and 
as for my letters to Paris, all are written in white ink, and 
they would not have reached their destination intact had 
they been washed and read. This is a mere suspicion on 
their part because they find that the King of France has him- 
self addressed the Powers. M. de Mercy let M. de Breteuil 
know that I was much suspected and very inconvenient, and 
he begged him never to tell me anything that he confided to 
him. That does not trouble me ; it only proves that they 
did not think me so clear-sighted. I went to see M. de 
Mercy ; he talked to me of affairs, of the annoyance the 
princes were ; he said they must be got away, and had much 
better be in the South. I was of his opinion, except as to 
sending them wholly away ; they could be made useful on 
the second line and by directing their conduct. 

5th. Dined with M. de Breteuil. Thugut and Browne 
launched out against the emperor, in displeasure that he 
would not act. The first added that he was sure of it. He 
also doubted whether the emperor desired to restore things 
as they were in Prance, and said that, to make sure of this, 
we had better ask M. de Mercy whether he expected that 



252 DIARY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. ix. 

the management of the finances would be restored to the 
king as before the revolution. Thugut believes, and I am of 
his opinion, that the emperor wants to avoid acting ; if 
forced to do so he wants to be strong enough with Prussia 
to exclude the Northern Powers and give France a mixed 
government which would make her dependent on him and 
take from her all her strength and influence in Europe. 
For this reason he has consented to the fifty thousand men 
promised by Prussia in order to represent that force to the 
Northern Courts as sufficient, and so prevent them from 
sending troops; and if he cannot succeed in that, at least 
to have a great superiority in deciding matters. But with 
the influence of the Empress of Eussia, the good-will of Prus- 
sia, and the ambition of the Duke of Brunswick, that 
plan can easily be foiled, and then the princes must be put 
forward, made to make demands (concerted with the king), 
to which the Powers would have the air of yielding. He 
advised the baron not to bind himself towards de Mercy for 
any repayment of money until the king was restored to his 
full authority. 

8th. The Bishop of Pamiers came at half-past seven to 
tell me that the emperor had died suddenly ; the perform- 
ance at the theatre was interrupted, the actor announced the 
news, and there were two or three applauses. I knew al- 
ready that a courier had arrived. The archduchess was 
ignorant; she even sent M. de Metternich after dinner to 
inquire if there were any letters for her. Later in the even- 
ing she sent for all the generals and spoke to them very 
well and firmly. — The Vicomte de V^rac, who came to see 
me in the evening, told me the people were saying about 
the streets : " The emperor is dead ; well, that 's good ! " He, 
the bishop, and many others think this will change and delay 
everything. I am not of that opinion ; I showed them why. 



1792] COUNT AXEL TERSEN. 253 

and I felt that Baron de Breteuil agreed witli me. I decided 
to write my opinion to the queen and send it the next day 
by post. 

9th. In all societies last night the emperor's death had 
little effect and did not upset the various parties. The gen- 
erals did not show the slightest regret, but almost the con- 
trary. Thugut told the baron he was glad. In the city the 
news made no sensation; the officials were even pleased. 
Papers were scattered about inciting the people to revolt, 
saying this was the moment to rise, they must profit by 
it and seduce the soldiery. The gates of the town were 
closed after eleven in the morning, but nothing riotous ap- 
peared in the streets. — Some say the emperor died of con- 
gestion of the lungs, others, among them the chancellor and 
M. de Metternich, that he had an attack of colic, was bled 
three times ; the attack returned at midday and he died in 
horrible vomitings. By which they mean that he was poi- 
soned. So much the better, if it proves to them the necessity 
of exterminating those French monsters. But the chancel- 
lor's purpose in crediting that tale is, on the contrary, to 
prove the danger of interfering in the affairs of France. 

13th. M. de Narbonne is dismissed from the ministry 
[of war] by the king in consequence of his base conduct 
towards M. Bertrand, minister of the navy, whom he en- 
deavoured in every possible way to ruin, and also because of 
letters which he made the generals Eochambeau, Luckner, 
and Lafayette write to him to preserve his ministry. The 
Chevalier de Grave, a young democrat, twenty-eight to thirty 
years of age, succeeds him. This is a triumph for the Jaco- 
bins. It was MM. Duport, Barnave, and Lameth who 
wanted the dismissal of M. de ISTarbonne; they were dis- 
satisfied with him, and said he deceived them. 

18th. Letter from Crawford, which makes me all the more 



254 DIARY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. ix. 

uneasy because the Clievalier de Coigny had sent me word 
of a project of the Jacobins to put the queen in a convent or 
take her to Orleans to be confronted with M. de Lessart; 
and a few days ago March 10, M. Vergniaud said in the 
Assembly : " Terror must now enter that palace from which 
it has issued so many times; let all those who are in it 
tremble ; there is but one person there who is inviolable." 

2 2d. Letter from Mme. de Lamballe to Baron de Breteuil 
saying that they want to denounce the queen in the affair of 
M. de Lessart [late director of posts] and separate her thus 
from the king to put her in a convent. This confirms my 
letter from Crawford. I believe in the project, but I doubt 
its execution. The Abb^ de Saint- Albin says he thinks the 
queen will go away, I do not believe she will ever separate 
from the king : and where could she go ? it would be diffi- 
cult to go anywhere, on account of Coblentz. 

23d. Found Goguelat when I came home; he passed 
through Calais, Dover, and Ostend. He left them eight days 
ago. Their position is horrible. I give the details in my 
letter to the king of the 24th. He heard the deputies say : 
" Lessart will get out of this, but the queen will not." Go- 
guelat had a little paper [to the new emperor] which read 
thus : — 

" I beg you, my nephew, to have confidence in all that the 

bearer may tell you from us. 

" Maeie-Antoinette." 

" I join your aunt, and think absolutely as she does. 

" Louis." 

We went to see Baron de Breteuil. He had the air, I 
thought, of not approving this step ; but he said nothing. 

25th. Dined at home with Baron Thugut. He thinks 
wonderfully well. He told me there were fifteen thousand 




^ /? ^y^ 7Y^zt^'^ e J^^^ei^ 



£, ^-Ci^ 






1792] COUNT AXEL TERSEN. 255 

men in tlie Milanese provinces to protect the King of Sar- 
dinia. He disapproved of the emperor's reply which caused 
the dismissal of Lessart, He wanted an insignificant one, 
and the immediate despatch of fifty thousand men, after 
which a firm answer. He blames Mercy and those who 
made the answer; wished they would act with vigour at 
once and enable the king to leave. 

April 3d. The Due d'Uz^s, at the head of one hundred and 
fifty French gentlemen, came to see me to ask news about the 
assassination of the King of Sweden. Letter to the queen. 

12th. Eeceived letters from Sweden of the 23d and 27th. 
The bulletin bad. In Br^gart's envelope a paper was added 
on which was written that the king died on the 29th towards 
midday. I was horror-struck. Baron Hopp, the Dutch 
minister, said the same thing. I tried to hope it was false, 
but I could not ; the details on his condition were too bad. 
I am tortured. 

17th. Dined with Breteuil. Thugut told him that the 
King of Hungary ^ had written here that he was weary of 
what was going on in France, and had decided to act and 
put an end to it ; that he should march his troops at once, 
and the French must be amused for two months until the 
troops arrived; then, whether the French attacked him or 
not, he should attack them. 

25 th. An engineer officer, named Obredi, who was sent 
to reconnoitre the country, the French, and the disposition 
of the inhabitants, reports that M. de Eochambeau is en- 
camped, since Monday at Maubeuge, opposite to Mons, in a 
very fine intrenched position ; and that nothing hinders the 

1 Francis, son of the Emperor Leopold succeeded his father in his 
hereditary dominions as King of Hungary and sovereign of Austria, but 
was not called Emperor of Germany until his election, July 5, 1792 as 
Erancis II : — Te. 



256 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OP [chap. ix. 

rrench. from entering tlie country and coming to Brussels; 
that no precautions are being taken to prevent it ; that the 
troops are so placed that they can be cut off with no chance 
of reuniting; that absolutely nothing is being done; that 
this is horrible, and there is not a moment to be lost. 
When he made this report to the archduchess she burst into 
tears, and said she was lost. He thinks the inhabitants 
about the frontiers are very ill-disposed. In short, he thinks 
their position [that of the government of the Low Countries] 
very dangerous, and their inertia and apathy extreme. 
Nothing has been done. The jealousy of General Browne 
against General Bender is excessive and will spoil all. The 
former has never been to reconnoitre the country. A faith- 
ful man in ISTamur, who has been a patriot, asked two months 
ago, through M. de Breteuil, to be called here to give impor- 
tant information to the government. M. de Metternich for- 
got it, and he has not yet been called or heard. When 
important affairs are talked of to the archduchess she weeps ; 
Due Albert [her husband] chatters; Mercy says there is 
nothing to be done, but he will talk of it with Metternich, 
who forgets it — it is all abominable. If they suffered alone 
it would not be so bad. Bender wanted to form a cordon 
from Ostend to Luxembourg : fine stupidity ! They are 
going to encamp and take a position. General Ferrari, a 
man of merit is indignant. He is not employed ; but he has 
pointed out several positions important to guard, which they 
had never thought of. 

26th. Dined at Court ; the archduchess did not speak to 
me. Eochambeau's camp has only 100 cannon and 1200 
men. He vrrites from Valenciennes to General Beaulieu at 
Mons ; his letter is dated " Year IV. of Liberty." In it he 
deplores the evils of war and asks, to spare blood, that no 
hostilities shall take place on either side until the guerre 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 257 

franche (?) has begun. He says he is not authorized to 
make this proposal, but he hopes that the general will con- 
vey it to the general government, and if they have not con- 
fidence in him, he will send a courier to Paris and obtain the 
king's orders. He speaks in his own name. His aide-de- 
camp reached Mons as the parade was beginning ; they let 
him see it, and then sent him back. 

30th. Eeceived news in the morning that there had been 
an affair near Tournai, where the French were repulsed. 
The Austrians had been very uneasy all day about Mons. At 
two o'clock I met M. de Metternich ; he told me that they had 
just heard of an affair at the outposts of Mons; he added 
that he had felt the keenest anxiety lest the troops had not 
assembled before the French attack, but that now he was 
easy on that point. " At any rate," he said, " it would not 
have been my fault; for I have warned them for the last 
three weeks, and never ceased to urge them about it; but 
they did nothing." Eeturning from a drive at eight in the 
evening, I heard that the French had been repulsed and 
well-beaten at Mons ; that at least is what Count Metternich 
wrote me. 

May 10th. The princes have written to the archduchess 
offering her all the Frenchmen who are under their orders, 
and they wrote the same to Vienna. She answered she 
could decide nothing without the orders of the king [of 
Hungary]. She did this by the advice of M. de Mercy, who 
told M. de Breteuil they had decided not to use Frenchmen, 
and not to admit them to participate in anything. He told 
Thugut that his chief fear was that the Baron de Breteuil 
was mixed in this affair, and he must be excluded. He 
asked him to say in Vienna (where Thugut is now going) 
that although he had previously decided to retire, he should 
now stay on, because of these important circumstances in 

17 



258 DIARY AND COREESPONDENCE OE [chap. ix. 

wMcli he might be useful; that he would continue to 
negotiate affairs and desired to be charged with making 
peace ; but on condition that he had full powers to make it 
as he pleased. In all he says one sees his desire to negotiate 
and come to some agreement, which could only be bad be- 
cause he is allied, through La Borde, with the constitutionals 
Barnave, Lameth, Duport, etc. ; and he has not spoken to 
the Baron about the princes' offer. I advised the baron to 
repeat to him the same offer, and show him the advantage of 
accepting it and the danger of refusing it at a moment when 
they have not enough troops and when the emigres could be 
of use in enticing the Erench to desert, and if he refuses, to 
request him to remember the fact that the offer had been 
made. 

26th. Striicker has arrived. Says that disorder at Yalen- 
ciennes is at its height. Eochambeau would have been 
massacred like Dillon if he had not kept himself hidden 
in the Abbey of Saint-Sauve for three days; where they 
went three times in search of him. On Monday, Luckner 
wanted to break camp; the troops refused, swearing against 

that foreigner who wanted to lead them to butchery, and 

threatening to hang him. The Eoyal-Swedish refused to 
go into ganison at Douai. Three soldiers met the Due 
d'Orl^ans ; they stopped him and insulted him, declaring 
that if he made them start they would massacre him ; that 
it was he who was instigating all this ; that he was a scoun- 
drel, and his proper place was at Coblentz with the other 
princes, but his behaviour had been so bad he dared not go 
there, 

June 7th. Bergstedt [Swedish secretary of embassy in 
Paris] arrived at 9 o'clock last evening; passed safely 
through Valenciennes. Says the Jacobins in Paris are quiet 
since the king's body-guard has been dismissed; they want 



1792] COUNT AXEL TERSEN. 259 

to be masters of his person and carry him off with them ; he 
thinks they couki succeed, for those who wish to prevent it 
have no leader; and as the majors [chefs de hatailloji] com- 
mand the National Guard for two months, they cannot have 
any. Servan has quarrelled with Dumouriez, who wanted to 
rule every thing. ... It was Mme. de Stael [wife of 
Swedish ambassador] who wrote the letters of the generals 
to Narbonne, and who got Lessart dismissed. All the con- 
stitutionals, friends of ISTarbonne, did not go to the Assembly 
to defend him, and in that way the Jacobins succeeded in 
arraigning him. It was an intrigue of Mme. de Stael. She 
always carries poison on her to take in case anything hap- 
pens to ISTarbonne. She went, disguised as a man, to see him 
at Arras ; her carriage was overturned on the way back ; 
all that made talk. She was absent from Tuesday to 
Sunday. 

24th. Eeceived" Cosmopolite" of 21st. Frightful account 
of an attack on the Tuileries on the 20th ; horrible ! the con- 
sequences make me shudder. 

July 8th. Lasserez has arrived with letters from the 
queen to me and to Mercy. She wants them to act and 
speak at once. It cannot be done until the forces arrive ; 
for they must speak only when acting. 

9th. Saw Mercy. He is of my opinion that they must 
be ready to act when they speak. The queen asked that in 
their manifesto they would hold Paris responsible for the 
king and his family. She asks if it would not be best to 
leave Paris. He answered, " Yes " if they were sure of per- 
sons to protect their departure, and if so, they should go to 
Compifegne, and appeal to the departments of Amiens and 
Soissons. He talked to me very well about the manifesto ; 
said hope must be left to all, except the factious, in order to 
save the king ; the Constitution not to be mentioned ; make 



260 DIAHY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ix. 

war upon it, but say nothing, and so annihilate it. He com- 
plained of those who surrounded the Baron de Breteuil and 
prevented him, Mercy, from confiding in him ; and said that 
the king could not recover his authority at once, — that 
was impossible, — only little by little. Said he himself was 
calumniated, accused of coldness to the interests of the queen ; 
that his correspondence would prove the contrary ; but that 
he dared not trust the French, who, one and all, even the 
aristocrats, were worth nothing: he had always written 
urging action to Vienna, but could never bring anything 
about. — He said all this with temper and impatience. He 
was indignant at the conduct of Spain, which covered her, 
he said, with mud. 

10th. Sent Lasserez back with letter to the queen. In 
the " Gazette Universelle " of the 7th a horrible speech by 
M. Danton to the council-general of the Commune of Paris. 
It is frightful. Wrote to the queen by post.^ 

14th. I have received from Paris a pamphlet entitled : 
" Le Cri de la douleur " — The " Cry of Pain, or the Day of 
June 20th." It is written by Mercier ; very well done and 
worthy of preservation. 

23 d. Eeceived four letters from Paris. Their situation is 
alarming ; they ask for the issuing of the manifesto and the 
entrance of the armies. They think they will be removed 
into the interior. The queen would not yield to the pro- 
posal of the constitutionals, with Lafayette and Luckner, to 
go to Compifegne, fearing to fall into their hands and give 

1 From this point the Diary contains a great deal relating to the condi- 
tion of the Low Countries, the movement of troops, the endless negotia- 
tions and intrigues of diplomatists, princes, emigres, in which Fersen, after 
the death of Gustavus III., was more of a trusted spectator than an active 
agent. In this volume only those parts of the Diary and letters which re- 
late more particularly to the fate of the King and Queen of France are 
given. — Tr. 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 261 

the Powers, who have so little willingness to act, a pretext to 
negotiate. 

26th. Four hundred federals from Marseille passed through 
Lyon; the municipality invited them to the theatre, where 
they sang horrible songs against the queen ; the honourable 
citizens silenced them ; the next day those citizens were ac- 
cused by the municipality. 

31st. The emperor and the King of Prussia have a great 
aversion to the emigres. Mercy has no influence. Schulem- 
burg says the troops ought to be brought into action at once, 
for both officers and soldiers are beginning to grumble at 
their fatigues and their expenses for the affairs of France. 

August 3d. A violent affray has taken place in Paris 
with the National Guard on the arrival of the Marseillais ; 
those of the Guard who are stationed in the palace were re- 
turning from dinner in the Champs-Elysdes when they were 
insulted by the populace who were joined by the Marseil- 
lais; the National Guard drew their sabres and fought. 
Three guards were killed, several wounded. The mayor 
arrived and quieted the people. The National Guard demand 
justice and will take it. 

7th. Dined with Sullivan. The municipality of Paris 
demand the fall of the king. Very anxious. Mme. Sullivan, 
who is deeply distressed, never ceases to concern herself 
with the fate of the kiag and queen ; she is even ill from 
anxiety, and urges me to send some one to England to en- 
treat the king to take some step to save their lives, -and to 
make him declare he will not allow those lives to be at- 
tacked, or he will take some startling vengeance. He could 
be shown that this would not affect their system of neutral- 
ity because it is only in the event of an attack upon the life 
of the king and queen that they are asked to do anything ; 
and besides, it binds them to nothing ; for if the king and 



262 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OE [chap. ix. 

queen were massacred, England would still be tlie mistress of 
doing nothing. I thought the idea good, but a thousand 
obstacles in its way, — Pitt's embarrassment lest such a de- 
mand should be discussed in parliament, and the question 
as to what point a nation has the right to dethrone 
and condemn its king ; also, the short time there was, and 
the known ill-will of the English. She answered that, ad- 
mitting all that, we might at least try it; that the point 
was to save their lives, and we must not regret the useless 
pains we take, for even if they came to nothing we should at 
least have the satisfaction of having tried everything. I had 
nothing to reply to this, and I decided to induce M. de 
Breteuil to undertake it. Mme. Sullivan talked with Simo- 
lin, who agreed with her and thought the thing might suc- 
ceed ; she begged Crawford to be the one to go to England, 
and he consented. 

In the evening I spoke to the Baron de Breteuil ; he was 
entirely against the idea for the same reasons as mine in the 
morning ; and he added his fear of ill-will in Pitt, who might 
betray the whole thing and by informing the factious in 
Paris expose the king. That was exaggeration and I proved 
it to him. However, he persisted in his refusal, adding that 
in politics a useless step is always injurious. I gave him 
the arguments that Mme. Sullivan had given me in the morn- 
ing, and begged him to reilect over them that night, and I 
would see him in the morning to know his decision. Mean- 
time I have agreed with Crawford that if Breteuil persists in 
refusing, we will send a man with letters to the Duke of 
Dorset and try to induce him to get this action taken. 

8 th. I went at 8 o'clock to Baron de Breteuil ; he had 
entirely come round to my idea, and his letter to Pitt was 
already written; he wished to send it by courier; but I 
represented to him that it was better to send some one who 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 263 

could speak and show the interest that was felt in it; he 
wished Crawford to go. I went to see Crawford, and he con- 
sented; but said a Frenchman, such as the Bishop of 
Pamiers, the baron's confidential agent, would have more 
effect, for they could tell him, Crawford, that this was only 
an idea of his ; and that as an Englishman he ought to have 
dismissed it. I represented this to the baron, and the 
bishop was decided on. At two o'clock Crawford and I 
were at the baron's. I begged him to write also to Lord 
Granville, minister of Foreign Affairs, and to Lord Camelford 
to get him to introduce the bishop. It was agreed to avoid 
speaking on a single thing but this one object, namely, to 
secure the safety of the king and queen, and to prove that 
that object could not in any way injure the neutrality. 
Crawford and I wrote letters to the Duke of Dorset, and 
before night all was ready. 

10th. News from Paris is reassuring; but how can we 
count on anything with those scoundrels and cowards ? The 
palace is still threatened, and the king and queen sleep only 
alternately ; one or the other is always up. 

13th. Terrible news from Paris. Thursday morning the 
palace [of the Tuileries] was attacked ; the king and queen 
escaped to the Assembly. At one o'clock the populace were 
fighting in the courtyards and the Carrousel. Blood flowed 
in streams ; many killed and hanged ; the palace forced on 
all sides ; eight pieces of cannon levelled and firing upon it. 
Eomainvilliers killed; Daffy also; a thick smoke makes 
people believe they have fired the palace. My God, what 
horrors ! — Mercy came to Breteuil ; suggests sending a man 
to Lafayette to propose to join his army with that of the 
Austrians : folly ; for if the object is to succour them, it is 
too late ; if to negotiate with the constitutionals, it is worth 
nothing and cannot save them in the end. Mercy said in 



264 DIAKY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ix. 

the evening that the Assembly had surrounded itself with 
cannon, and that step awed the factious. The kiug had 
either been deposed, or had abdicated of his own accord. 

15th, News from Paris. The Eoyal family in the HStel 
de Noailles, watched day and night, not allowed to see any 
one. Talked to Breteuil about inducing the King of Prussia 
to persuade Lafayette and the generals to come over with 
their armies and dissolve them, etc., etc. . . . 

17th. News from Paris. The king and his family im- 
prisoned in the Tower of the Temple. Mmes. de Lamballe 
and Tourzel imprisoned with them. Lameth arrested at 
Eouen on his way to Havre to escape to England with his 
wife. He begged for all favour not to be taken back to 
Paris, where he would be massacred. 

19 th. The Xing of Prussia has written to Vienna to 
propose the regency of Monsieur, on condition that Calonne 
be dismissed, and Baron de Breteuil be put at the head of 
affairs. Yicomte de Caraman [Louis XVI.'s envoy to Court 
of Berlin] writes that the king desires much that M. de 
Breteuil should go to see him. The baron does not wish to 
go ; but as the King of Prussia is a yielding man and lets 
himself rely on the last who speaks to him, they might give 
him prejudices against the baron and his "intractability;" 
so it may be better that he should go for a moment and 
return here at once. All this is an intrigue of the devil. 
The baron got M. de Metternich to write to Vienna and dis- 
courage this idea of a regency. 

21st. The Bishop of Pamiers has returned; satisfied with 
the Duke of Dorset. Pitt spoke well; more interested in 
the affairs of France than he wishes to show. The bishop 
took upon himself to say that it was by order of the king 
that the baron took this step. He insisted on a more decided 
expression at the close of the despatch to Lord Gower, but 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 265 

could not obtain it. He thinks they all desired to be more 
decided, but dared not, on account of the nation, which is 
strongly worked upon by propagandists of all nations, with 
whom London abounds. Pitt assured him that factious 
persons should never be received in England; he said they 
had a great deal of money there. — Letter from Dorset to 
me ; very good. Lafayette, Alex. Lameth, Latour-Maubourg, 
Baron de Perzy, vidth thirteen others, their servants, forty 
horses, and a great deal of gold, arrested at Eochefort. 

27th. Duke Albert [husband of the archduchess, regent of 
the Low Countries] wanted to keep Lafayette but let the 
others go ; opposed in this. Baron de Breteuil has talked to 
the archduchess about the duke's inaction ; he said it shamed 
him ; that he might have acquired glory by attempting to 
take the places that confronted him, for which there was 
great probability of success. She had the air of feeliug this, 
but, nevertheless, put forward fears on the internal tran- 
quillity of the Low Countries; she took note of what he 
said, however. 

30th. News from Paris. The project of the Jacobins is 
the agrarian law, and the National Convention will take it 
up. The Princesse de Tarente, who was at the Abbaye 
with two guards over her, is taken to the prison of La Force. 
Mardchal de Mouchy is to be arrested. M. de Nicolai 
writes me that the queen is not well. M. d'Affry [comman- 
der of the Swiss guards] is absolved ; he said he did not give 
the Swiss an order to lire on the people, though the queen 
had repeatedly requested it; and the proof was the few 
cartridges he had issued, for they had but six : what infamy 
for him ! — Lafayette and company have left Luxembourg on 
demand of the King of Prussia. Lafayette asked the arch- 
duchess to see him, he having things of the utmost impor- 
tance to communicate to her; she refused, and sent him a 



266 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ix. 

man to know what he had to say, telling him he could put 
entire confidence in him ; the man has returned, nothing has 
transpired. 

Septemher 2d. M. de Eivarol came to see me in the 
evening. He talked much and very well, but said little. 
He told me that his brother, who was at the Tuileries on the 
10th of August, wrote him that the king himself placed all 
the posts : the Swiss Guard were on the Theatre side, four 
thousand of the National Guard at the other end of the palace ; 
the queen accompanied him, encouraged every one, took a 
pistol from the Due de Choiseul and gave it to the king. 
They returned to the palace. The brigands, who were ar- 
riving, fired six shots and cried out that they were surrender- 
ing. Five of the artillery went over to the side of the crowd 
and turned their cannon on the palace ; the rest were faith- 
ful. It was then that they induced the king to take refuge 
in the Assembly. The Swiss and the National Guard fired, 
and every one fled. Then they came and told the Swiss 
they were wrong to defend the palace, for " the bird was 
flown," — the king was not there. The Swiss replied it was 
a trap set for them ; they knew very well he was there. They 
told the same thing to the National Guard, who abandoned 
the Swiss and surrounded the Assembly. M. de Eivarol here 
said that the king did wrong to abandon the palace and put 
himself under the blade of the Jacobins of the Assembly ; 
had he stayed where he was, the canaille would have been 
repulsed and the constitutionals would have had the upper 
hand ; which would have been well, — for at least, the king's 
life was safe. Eivarol was right; but to judge, one must 
know all the circumstances. 

5th. News from Paris awful. They say the Princesse de 
Tarente has escaped. They say the people condemn and 
execute at once. — Verdun was taken on the 1st at seven in 



1792] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 267 

the evening, after a bombardment of four hours. The com- 
mandant blew out his brains. The garrison sent back to 
France disarmed. 

6 th. Dreadful details from Paris. Manuel said to the 
king, when they forced him to see the dead body of Mme. 
de Lamballe : " Look at it ! there may be a counter-revolu- 
tion, but you shall not profit by it ; there 's the fate that 
awaits you." — All these details make me fear for the king 
and queen ; I decide to send a courier to M. de Breteuil and 
write to him. I believe it is necessary to adopt another 
course ; I have never feared so much. 

7th. Saw the Prussian minister, Baron Beck ; he talked 
well on French affairs. He thinks the king lost. He urges 
Duke Albert to act, but finds little good-will and much slow- 
ness and indecision. He seems to say pretty freely what he 
thinks, and disapproved loudly of delaying at Thionville and 
not exterminating the Jacobins in every town they passed 
through; too much mercy was shown. He added that too 
many persons meddled with advice. — News from Paris ; all 
is calm at present ; I am not. I wrote also to the Duke of 
Dorset. 

10th. Letter from Baron de Breteuil at Verdun, 8th. Ar- 
rived the 6 th, in the evening. Had seen the King of Prussia ; 
much satisfied with him and with the Duke of Bruns- 
wick ; both very right for the king [of France] ; great desire 
to reach Paris. Will propose to Monsieur to keep his title 
and put himself at the head of affairs with M. de Breteuil 
only. The latter will act as a machine ; for that he will call 
upon several persons ; it is not yet known if Monsieur will 
consent. Calonne goes to Naples ; he has dilapidated their 
finances ; has repaid himself all his advances, and two days 
ago he presented a note to the princes informing them he 
had no money, not enough even to pay the troops. Twenty 



268 DIARY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. ix. 

thousand francs had to be sent to them. Monsieur openly 
expresses displeasure with him. The Comte d'Artois is 
forced to admit he has been the dupe of his own good heart. 
The Duke of Brunswick hopes Duke Albert will act at 
last. — Nothing new in Paris ; all is quiet. The Due de la 
Kochefoucauld massacred near Eoche-Guyon. 

15th. M. de Mercy came to see me. Tried to get him to 
speak to Lord Elgin [British minister in Brussels], with 
whom I had already arranged it, and ask him to represent to 
Mr. Pitt how shameful it would be for England if, being able 
to save the royal family of Prance without arming a single 
vessel, and able to do more with a single word than all the 
combined armies, she would not say it ; also to ask him to 
promise them safety, asylum, protection ; and even rewards 
to those who contributed to save their lives. M. de Mercy 
would not advance so far, nor would he let the archduchess 
do so, — 1st, because he had no orders ; 2d, because he feared 
that England might use the request as a means to meddle in 
the affair and try to play a leading role; 3d, because the 
ministers of Vienna and Naples had taken upon themselves 
to make a similar demand, to which Mr. Pitt had replied very 
coldly. He said he would speak to Lord Elgin that evening 
at Crawford's, but only historically, and represent to him 
how much the honour of England and her advantage urged 
her to that course ; also that he would write a very strong 
letter on the subject to M. de . . . , the emperor's ambassador 
in London, and would arrange to have it read there, which 
would have more effect than what he might say to Lord 
Elgin. — The bishop came to read me his plan ; which seems 
to me good. 

17th. M. Dumouriez, knowing that General Clerfayt was 
at Grandpr^, started with six thousand men and turned the 
Croix du Bois to attack him. Clerfayt detached four battal- 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. , 269 

ions to attack the French, at Bouc-aux-Bois, defeated them, 
took their cannon, and drove them back. Prince Charles de 
Ligne was killed. They lost five killed, eleven wounded, 
among them four officers. — Lord Elgin sent off a courier to 
London and reported in a very strong manner his conversa- 
tion with M. de Mercy; he offered to go to Paris if the 
ministry desired it. He had received a private letter from 
Lord Granville in which the latter expressed the anxiety of 
the British ministry about the royal family of France, and 
their desire to contribute by all and every means to their 
safety. 

18th. News from Paris. The Due d'Orl^ans has changed 
his name and taken that of Egalite ; and he calls the Palais- 
Eoyal [his residence] the Palais de la E^volution. Great 
massacre at Lyon and at Besangon. They have arrested all 
the relatives of emigres. 

20th. Much is said of the frugal life of the King of 
Prussia : five solid dishes, no dessert, no coffee ; that is his 
dinner. He usually has thirty at table. He is always on 
horseback ; he said to M. de Breteuil, who praised this 
frugality, " It is by such economy that I feed my army." 

24th. News from Paris on 21st : " Paris very tranquil 
yesterday, seems to be so to-day. National Convention, to 
the number of 217, assembled in the Tuileries. News of 
the day makes little sensation, but that from England much ; 
it will probably secure the lives of the royal family; the 
desire of the sections for that object is more and more 
marked; meanwhile each is fairly well." 

On a request from Count Stadion, the emperor's minister, 
and M. Castelcicala, the Neapolitan minister to Mr. Pitt, that 
steps be taken by England to secure the life of the king by 
declaring that those who should commit the crime of killing 
him would find no asylum in England, Mr. Pitt replied that 



270 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ix. 

the King of England had decided to take that step ; but as he 
had no means of sending the notice authentically to Paris, he 
took the course of sending it to all the foreign ministers, re- 
questing them to forward it, if they had means of doing so. 
He gave assurances of the desire of the king to contribute in 
all ways to the preservation of the French royal family. This 
declaration is not sufficient; he ought to have added some 
active measure. 

25 th. Dined with M. de Mercy. He told me that much 
severity was needed ; it was the only means ; all four corners 
of Paris should be set on fire. — Duke Albert has marched 
with his army ; he made a proclamation. M. d'Orsay has 
circulated a paper in which he says that the King of France 
ought to be sent out of the country, and allowed to go ; that 
a king driven away is an object of contempt, and can never 
recover his rights ; but if he is assassinated he inspires both 
pity and interest. That would be very well if we could 
know by which way they would send him out, so that we 
could take him, and if they did not murder him at the 
frontier. — I expected to go to the army to join M. de Bre- 
teuil. I should have been glad to be a witness of the opera- 
tions, and more at hand to give advice and urge to what 
ought to be done. 

October 1st. Letters from Paris to the 27th; the com- 
mandant at Valenciennes held them back. They say nothing 
of Dumouriez's position ; but the evening " Journal " says that 
the Due d'Orl^ans presented a letter to the Convention which 
proposes an agreement on the part of the King of Prussia ; 
the Convention decided not to receive it until the armies 
should have evacuated French territory. If this is true a 
clumsy blunder has been made ; it is not in this way, nor 
through the Due d'Orldans, that they ought to negotiate. 

4th. At midnight Lord Elgin's courier brought news that 



1792] COUNT AXEL EEESEN. 271 

the Prussian and Austrian army retreated October 1st to 
Grandpr^, and thence to Verdun. The courier was an officer : 
he says the combined army is worn-out with fatigue, want of 
everything, and disease ; seeing no arrival of their supply 
trains, the fear of being surrounded began to spread among 
them; the French made a bold front; they never ceased 
throwing up breast-works ; they were much fired upon with- 
out answering or ceasing to work ; their sentinels scoffed at 
the Prussians when they departed. He says the inhabitants 
of the country were detestable ; they brought nothing to the 
camp ; they fired upon every one and gave nothing to travel- 
lers even if paid for. He was forced to follow the army to 
Grandprd for fear of being captured. He accuses the Duke 
of Brunswick of timidity, and says he could, on the 25th, 
have attacked Dumouriez and defeated him. In England 
they have the same opinion of the Duke of Brunswick's 
character ; they say he prefers to negotiate. 

5th. Eeceived a letter from Baron de Breteuil. This 
retreat is horrible in its consequences. All is ended, it 
seems to me, for this year, — unless the army can be put in a 
state to act and a new plan be formed, which I doubt. I 
must see the Due de Choiseul, who has just arrived. He is 
perfect for the king and queen. 

6th. Lord Elgin thinks it certain that it was the cabinet 
of Vienna which induced the retreat of the Duke of Bruns- 
wick and the project of going into winter quarters. That 
cabinet desires to disgust the King of Prussia with the en- 
terprise, so as to leave the emperor sole master. This is not 
the personal disposition of the emperor, but that of his 
cabinet. 

11th. The Due de Choiseul departed. He gave me de- 
tails as to all that has happened in Paris, also about the 
affair at Varennes. By what he told me of Paris, it seems 



272 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ix. 

that after June 20tli [return from Varennes] the constitu- 
tionals, foreseeing their fall and the impossibility of strug- 
gling against the Jacobins, resolved to get the king out of 
Paris, willingly or by force, assembling and patrolling troops 
along the road, and thus take him to Compifegne. Lafayette 
and Luckner prepared the spirit of their armies towards this, 
and had their addresses ready. At one time Lafayette came 
to Paris to try his influence, but though the National Guard 
received him well he could never get four hundred of them 
to agree to fire on the Jacobins. The king revolted at the 
idea of departure ; the queen even more, though she told the 
Due de Choiseul and others that she had no opinion and it 
was for the king to decide. Lafayette went away to main- 
tain his army in the same disposition, and always with the 
hope of getting the king to go to Compifegne. Then came 
the federation ; there was one party for Potion, and another 
for Lafayette. The ministry was good. The minister of 
war would not send away the Swiss Guard. They all in- 
trigued, and the Jacobins foiled their intrigues repeatedly. 
The individuals who were to have formed the army in Paris 
arrived, but without any order or any discipline. Lafayette 
had a scheme to hold a review, and to profit by that assem- 
bling of troops to fall upon the Jacobins. The affair was all 
arranged. Pdtion [mayor of Paris] suspected it and for- 
bade the review. Luckner went before the military com- 
mittees and said and did a hundred follies, compromised 
Lafayette, etc., etc. — At last the Jacobins made the scene 
of August 10th and all was lost. That event had been pre- 
dicted. Everybody had urged the king to go away, but he 
would not. M. de Sainte-Croix [one of the ministry] be- 
haved very well ; he predicted to the king and queen all that 
happened. He read to them a paper in which all the details 
were given, and clear information as to the project; one 



1792] COUNT AXEL EEKSEN. 273 

tiling he did not read, namely ; that the queen was to be put 
in an iron cage and exposed to the sight of the people. The 
cage was made. Two days earlier the ministers had urged 
the king to start with relays for Compifegne, He could have 
got into a carriage in the morning while taking his walk by 
the Pont Tournant, crossed the bridge at Poissy, which they 
would have destroyed behind him ; the Swiss and 600 or 700 
gentlemen on foot and on horseback would have covered the 
march, and (to take from this departure the look of a flight) 
he was to send a note, when he got into the carriage at eight 
in the morning, to inform the ministry that in virtue of the 
Constitution he had gone to Compifegne. But the king 
refused everything. During the day of August 9th they 
were informed of the rising among the people; the guard 
was doubled ; it was faithful ; all the Swiss, to the number 
of a thousand, were there. M. Mandat, commanding-general 
of the National Guard was there ; M. Eoederer came ; three 
hundred private gentlemen were in the palace ; no one went 
to bed. Eeports came in constantly. M. Mandat obtained 
from the municipality an order to repulse force by force. 
At midnight M. Potion arrived ; he was very ill-received by 
the National G-uard ; they put his carriage in a corner of the 
courtyard and resolved to keep him and make him give 
orders for the defence. He assured the king that all would 
calm down. On going downstairs he observed the arrange- 
ments of the guard and made no attempt to go away; he 
walked about the courtyards and garden talking with 
Picederer, who, under an appearance of devotion, betrayed the 
king. The muncipality, uneasy at the non-return of Potion, 
notified the Assembly of its fears that he was arrested in the 
palace. He was summoned to the bar to give account of the 
facts, and denied that he had been prevented from leaving. 
As soon as he was out he sent reinforcements to the palace 

18 



274 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ix. 

of the very worst kind, National guards and men with pikes. 
They mingled with those in the courtyards, but posted them- 
selves chiefly in the garden along the terraces. The Swiss 
lined the staircases; they were also in the courtyard with 
the National guards. 

At three in the morning shots were fired from time to 
time ; an artilleryman fired a cannon in the courtyard under 
pretence of awkwardness ; but there is reason to think the 
shots were signals. At sis o'clock the king went to visit all 
the posts of the gardens and courtyards. He was insulted 
in the gardens and ran some risk ; muskets were aimed at 
him, he was threatened with pikes, and closely pressed by 
two men with pistols. A National guard who accompanied 
the king returned all pale and trembling. At seven o'clock 
M. Mandat received an order to go to the municipality, 
under pretext of concerting plans of defence, but in reality 
to evade the order for repulsing force by force and to dis- 
organize the National Guard by removing its commander. 
Mandat did not go, and a second order came. Ecederer ad- 
vised him to obey. He went and was massacred on arriving. 
From that moment no one commanded. They organized the 
gentlemen; M. de Viomesnil, Mar^chal de Mailly, Pont 
Labb^ and d'Eveilly were put in command. The National 
Guard took umbrage. The king and queen talked to them 
kindly and forcibly ; they were convinced, mingled with the 
gentlemen, and were posted with them in the apartments. 
The king had already been talked to about going for safety 
to the Assembly. The ministers had warned him that this 
was in the plan. Everybodj^ especially M. de Sainte-Croix, 
dissuaded him; he was induced to remain, and the queen 
said to the Baron de Viomesnil and M. de Clermont-Galle- 
rand: "If you see me going to the Assembly I give you 
leave to nail me to this wall." 




<=~i^;»,?5^?2/ ,^.^^^!yez-^^ey ..^J^^i>/^^.^&^^^ 



1792] COUNT AXEL TERSEN. 275 

At eight o'clock M. Eoederer returned at the head of his 
bureau. He asked to speak with the king in private ; and 
passed with him, the queen, and the ministers into the king's 
cabinet. M. Eoederer requested him to go to the Assembly as 
the only course to take. The queen opposed it strongly. M. 
Eoederer asked her if she would take upon herself the respon- 
sibility for events, for the massacres that might take place, — 
that of the king, that of her children, and of all the gentle- 
men in the palace ; he told her that more than twenty thou- 
sand men were marching against the palace, etc. The queen 
said nothing, and the king decided to go. M. Eoederer re- 
quested him to go alone with his family, for fear of danger 
to him if he were seen with many persons about him. The 
king then ordered every one to remain, and went out through 
the apartments, the grand staircase, the middle iron gate, 
and the garden, and mounted the steps of the terrace opposite 
to the Assembly. There was no one with the king but the 
queen, the children, Madame Elisabeth, the Princesse de 
Lamballe, Mme. de Tourzel, and M. de Brigd. As they 
passed through the apartments the National guards and the 
gentlemen wept and tried to stop them ; the king consoled 
them, saying he should soon retm-n. As soon as he was 
gone discouragement fell on every one. Half an hour later 
the palace was attacked ; the artillerymen opened the 
great gates ; the canaille rushed in, but a volley from the 
Swiss Guard and the National Guard swept them back ; 
they seized two cannon. Meantime all who were in the 
palace. National guards and gentlemen, escaped as best they 
could, but the Swiss, surrounded on every side were all 
taken and massacred.^ 

1 The well-known lion cut into the rock at Lucerne, from a design by 
Thorwaldsen, is Switzerland's memorial to the twenty officers and seven 
hundred and sixty men of her soil who died faithful to their duty on this 
occasion. — Tr. 



276 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. ix. 

By the details which the Due de Choiseul gave me I 
see clearly that he had reason to quit his post at the bridge 
of Sommevesle with his detachment [this refers to the 
flight to Varennes], for the country was rising on account of 
certain villages belonging to M. d'Elboeuf, which had refused 
to pay taxes. The peasants were to be compelled to do so by 
force, and they believed that the hussars (under young 
Bouill^) had come for that purpose. The tocsin was sounded 
and the peasants were gathering on all sides. Many came to 
see the hussars; uneasiness was spreading as far even as 
Chalons. The detachment had good reason not to repass 
Sainte-Menehould, where it had been very ill-received on its 
way. Still, in spite of all that, and the delay of five hours 
between Paris and Chalons, and the king's thoughtlessness 
in talking and letting himself be seen at Sainte-Menehould, 
where the post-master recognized him, he could have got 
safely through Varennes if the hussars had been mounted 
outside of the town, and if there had been some one there to 
tell him where the relay was, for the town was quiet. The 
post-master entered the town as the king was stopping to 
ask where the relay was ; but the hussars were in the stables, 
or drinking in the town, the horses were not saddled, and 
young Bouill^ was in bed. He was awakened by the Due 
de Choiseul's groom, who told him there was trouble and a 
carriage had been stopped which was said to be the king's. 
He ran to saddle his horse, and when the Due de Choiseul 
arrived, half an hour after the king was arrested, he found no 
one in the barracks but the horses, not saddled, and the 
stablemen ; not an officer and not an hussar. He assembled 
as many as he could. The municipal officers came and 
ordered him to surrender to the municipality. For all an- 
swer he marched his detachment to the house where the 
king was. There was then a crowd of about three to four 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 277 

hundred persons ill-armed. He went up and found the 
family all in one room. ... It was proved to the king that 
with the hussars he could go on, that M. Bouill^ was cer- 
tainly on the march and they would meet him ; the advice 
was difficult to follow, for all had to go on horseback and 
there was no answering for musket-shots. The king pre- 
ferred to remain and await M. de Bouilld ; for up to this time 
there was no talk of making him return to Paris. Some people 
in Verdun wanted him to go there, saying he would be safe ; 
they spoke to Sauce, the mayor, and showed him the credit he 
would have if he saved the king, and on the other hand, the 
certainty of vengeance when M. de Bouill^ arrived. Sauce 
seemed shaken, the municipality also. Matters were thus 
when Lafayette's two aides-de-camp arrived, with a decree 
from the Assembly. Then everything changed aspect; it 
was resolved to take the king back to Paris. The king, 
under various pretexts of illness and fatigue tried to delay ; 
but the people cried out that he must go ; they must put 
him into the carriage by force, etc., etc. ; and at eight o'clock 
in the morning he was taken away without hearing anything 
of Bouill^. Thus it appears that the fault was, 1st, the care- 
lessness or ignorance of young Bouill^ at Varennes ; 2d, 
the fact that his father, instead of being at the centre of the 
expedition, was at one end of it ; 3d, the delay of five hours on 
the road to Chalons ; 4th, the king's imprudence in showing 
himself at Sainte-Menehould. 



278 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. 



CHAPTEE X. 

1792-1793. Diary continued. — Battle of Jemmapes. — Evacuation of Brus- 
sels and Flight of the Austrians and Emigre's. — Trial and Execution of 
Louis XVI. — Dumouriez proposes to the Prince de Coburg to dash 
on Paris with 50,000 Men and rescue the Queen. Scheme defeated 
by Dumouriez's Army revolting against him. — The Queen removed to 

I the Conciergerie. — Last fruitless Efforts of her few faithful Friends. — 
Her Death. 

Brussels, October 22d, 1792. Letters from France, delayed 
since the 2d, have arrived. The last gazettes are to the 
18th. The royal family are reunited; the king's trial is 
put off for four months. At the time of the separation the 
king was put in the big tower in the middle of the Temple ; 
the room had iron gratings and was lighted from above. 
The farrier of M. de Nicolai, a National guard, was witness 
of the parting of the king from his family, which, he said 
was dreadful. The queen and the others were also separated 
for some days, 

25th. News of the taking of Mayence by Custine with 
thirty thousand rebels ; after thirty hours' bombardment the 
town capitulated ; the troops came out with arms and bag- 
gage. They say the French are marching on Frankfort. 
Longwy surrendered by capitulation ; they re-established the 
magazines and captured artillery. The baron [de Breteuil] 
adds : " This amazing conduct casts great blame on the 
Duke of Brunswick ; he is a man in the mud." The letter 
is dated 21st. 

Novemher 1st, 1792. It seems that the Duke of Bruns- 
wick is a man beneath his opportunity, who is afraid of a 
little resistance where he expected none; who wished to 



1792] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 279 

negotiate, and was fooled by Dumouriez, who wanted to gain 
time to intrench. The Prince of Nassau desired to speak to 
General . • • ; the latter came with his suite to the outposts, 
where the two generals talked from a distance. The French- 
man spoke in a very arrogant tone: suddenly his horse 
seemed to bolt forward in spite of himself quite close to the 
Prince of Nassau, to whom he said in a low voice : " Mor- 
dieu ! why don't you act ? To-morrow we expect a convoy 
from Chalons; if you take it we are lost." Then, riding 
off, he said : " Monsieur, if you have nothing else to say to me, 
it was hardly worth while to bring me to the outposts." 
The Prince of Nassau immediately reported this ; they hesi- 
tated ; and arrived an hour too late to seize the convoy ! 

The King of Prussia is in despair ; but he assured the 
baron that nothing was really lost, as they would now claim 
the help of all the Powers and make preparations to begin a 
campaign with more vigour in the spring. The Duke of 
Brunswick told the baron that if it were not cowardly he 
would blow his brains out. He maintained, however, that it 
was impossible to attack. Nearly all the Prussian generals 
were against the expedition, especially Kalkreuth. 

7th. Baron de Breteuil came to tell me that the Aus- 
trians have been defeated before Mons by eighty thousand 
Frenchmen with one hundred and fifty cannon [Dumouriez's 
victory at Jemmapes] ; that retreat from Brussels is decided 
on ; that the government and the archduchess are starting 
to retire to Euremonde, and Metternich had advised him to 
go. Their troops have suffered greatly. The baron told me 
that he should leave for Euremonde in three hours. At 
nine o'clock the news was made public ; consternation and 
fear general. One would have thought that the French were 
at the gates of the town ; nothing was seen but people run- 
ning about in search of means to get away. All the un- 



280 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. x. 

happy emigres, without money, without resources, were in 
despair, Not a single hackney-coach could be found. All 
were engaged to go to Antwerp or elsewhere, and the whole 
day nothing was seen but departures, also equipages coming 
from the army. 

For two days there had been orders to give no post horses 
without permission ; that was alarming. I went to tell the 
news to Crawford and get them to pack their things. I 
packed mine and we arranged to go together, with Simolin, 
by Antwerp to Breda. I went to see Mercy to ask him if 
proper care was taken of the diamonds of Josdphine[?]. 
He had the face to tell me he did not know there were any ; 
he had certainly received a box, but he gave the key to the 
archduchess on her arrival ; whereas it was I who had written 
him the letter and sent him the box.^ I tried to give him 
courage and prove to him that all was not lost ; that the 
forces scattered through the country must be collected, a 
strong position taken up between Mons and Brussels, there 
to wait for the French and attack them. By this means we 
should get them away from their supplies and beat them 
easily. He said he had written and said all that, and should 
do so again, but with a man like Duke Albert there was noth- 
ing to hope, and the only thing to do was to go, for the French 
army would certainly be in Brussels within a week, possibly 
the next day. The archives had already gone, and they were 
emptying the treasury. Terror, astonishment, and fear were 
on all faces. I met Maldeghem; he told me they had 
fought hard ; the Austrians attacked several times and were 
repulsed; they lost heavily. The whole road from Mons 

1 Possibly, even probably, these were Madame Elisabeth's diamonds 
which she intrusted for safe-keeping to the Due de Choiseul. She stated 
this on her examination before Fourquier-Tinville on the day preced- 
ing her execution. See Life of Madame Elisabeth in this Historical 
Series, — Te. 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEK 281 

was covered with war equipages and carts with wounded ; all 
the squares were filled except the Place Eoyale. 

I was engaged to dine with the Neapolitan ambassador ; he 
sent to excuse himself. The Court carriages and equipages 
were starting constantly. We had fixed our departure for 
the next day, but M. de Mercy, who came in the evening to 
see Mme. SulKvan, advised us not to be in a hurry, we had 
still three or four days ; he said he was not going to Eure- 
monde, a vile, unhealthy place, but to Dtisseldorf, and begged 
us to come there too. So we decided to go, and postponed 
our departure. 

8th. Lord Elgin received notice last night from M. de 
Metternich that the government had started for Euremonde. 
La Marck came and told us that Metternich was also leaving 
in the night, and Mercy with him ; that the council of Bra- 
bant was dissolved and they were about to open the prisons ; 
he was starting at midnight and advised us to do the same, 
for probably the troops posted along the road to protect the 
departure would soon be withdrawn. Crawford wanted to 
start last night; I tried to reassure them and make them 
wait till the next day, swearing at Mercy for his selfishness 
in not warning those he lived with daily, and leaving them 
exposed to danger. Lord Elgin came repeatedly to tell us 
there were plots in the town and other nonsense, for the 
place was perfectly tranquil. It was decided we should 
leave the next day. . . . 

9th. Simolin, who took charge of getting horses to hire, 
could find none. I bought four for the fourgon, and found 
eight for the carriages ; I had my own. They charged twenty- 
two louis d'or for four horses as far as Maestricht. — The news 
of the insurrection at Antwerp was made public, and it was 
said that one carriage Lord Elgin had sent there was toppled 
into the canal by the rascals. . . . They urged me to burn 



282 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. x. 

the portfolio containing the papers of the queen ; but I did 
not do so; I placed them with mine in Simolin's carriage. 
The night before I had resolved to send them to England in 
charge of Lord Elgin, but the insurrection at Antwerp made 
me change my mind. 

At last at midday we started, — Simolin and I in his car- 
riage, our valets in mine ; the two women and Crawford iii 
another, and the lady's-maids in a third ; with the f ourgon, two 
cabriolets, and my saddle-horses. In spite of what I had 
said, I was not without fear of trouble in Brussels or on the 
road; but all was quiet; every one had a look of fear and 
consternation. A lamentable spectacle was that of the 
unfortunate emigres along the road. Young men and old 
men of the Bourbon corps were left behind, scarcely able to 
drag themselves along with their muskets and knapsacks. 
There were even women of elegance, with their maids or 
without them, going on foot, some carrying their children, 
others little parcels. I longed at the moment for a hundred 
carriages to pick up those imfortunates ; I felt horror and 
pity. . . . We put up for the night at Louvain. . . . 

11th. Eeached Maestricht at one o'clock. Not a lodging 
to be had. We stopped for dinner at an eating-house and 
the master gave us two rooms. Simolin and I got a room 
near-by; both of us in a cellar room. I went to see the 
baron and found him at dinner with twenty persons well- 
known in society. Nine thousand persons had arrived in 
two days. Some had slept in the streets. 

14th. Dined with the Prince of Hesse ; Mme. de Brionne, 
Breteuil, Prince Camille de Eohan, Dangevilliers, Archbishop 
of Eheims, etc., etc., there. As we decided to start the next 
day for Aix-la-Chapelle, I sent a man on to engage 
lodgings. ... 
, December 15th. Eeached Cologne at three o'clock. I 



1793] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 283 

lodged with Simolin at the Court of Cologne ; the two ladies 
at the Domhof. Letter from Paris, sent to me by Mr. Blair, 
gave me pain. 

17th. Started at ten and reached Ophiden at two. Badly- 
lodged. 

18th. Started at eleven and reached Dusseldorf at six in 
the evening. 

23d. Talked with BreteuH. The King of Prussia told 
him he knew all the democratic talk that went on in his 
army and against himself; it was always so in the ante- 
chambers of his uncle, who paid no attention to it ; neither 
did he. 

January 2d, 1793. The king [of France] was summoned 
to the bar on the 26th. Delasfeze read his justification, 
which is strong in points. The king added with feeling that 
what hurt him most was to be accused of having wished to 
shed the blood of his people — he, who throughout his reign 
had sought only their happiness. The king retired, and they 
adjourned the discussion from day to day until it was 
decided. 

12th. Mr. Murray passed through Dusseldorf on his way 
to join the King of Prussia and remain with him. He says 
that Pitt has fully decided to declare himself ; that they are 
working to save the royal family; and they want to win 
Dumouriez, for he' has given himself over, with Danton, 
Sainte-Foix, Ptobespierre, and Marat, to the Orleans party. 
The latter want to exterminate the royal family and substitute 
that of Orleans; and if they cannot establish the father 
[Egalit^], at least they can the son [Louis-Philippe]. Poland 
and Le Brun are against it. 

■ 27th. Eeceived last night at half -past ten o'clock, from 

the Archbishop of Tours ^ the sad details 'of the death of the 

1 See Appendix. 



284 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. x. 

King of France. Though I was prepared for it, the certainty 
of so awful a crime renewed all my sufferings. The most 
heart-rending memories returned to my imagination. I sent 
off a courier that evening to the regent [Due Charles of 
Sudermania, Eegent of Sweden during the minority of Gus- 
tavus lY.]. The despatch cost me heavily. 

30th. Louis XVI.'s will superb. Nicolai offers himself 
to defend the queen. He has written to the queen to make 
this offer, and has sent his letter to the president of the 
Convention. 

31st. Letters from Paris say nothing of the queen's trial; 
she is still in the Temple. La Marck proposed to Mercy to 
ask the emperor to take a very simple step, and solely to save 
his aunt. I opposed the idea. The step is not a useful one, 
and could not save her; nothing can influence those villains, 
and it might be dangerous by stirring up the question of her 
trial, hastening it perhaps. A step that cannot be useful 
should not, it seems to me, be taken. Crawford, Simolin, 
La Marck, and I consulted the whole evening over this. 

February 3d. They have written M. Quitor, who is here, 
that it is proposed to declare the dauphin a bastard, degrade 
the queen, and shut her up in the Salpgtri^re. One dares 
not think of it from horror — but everything is possible. 
Young Bouille says that the Prince of Wales had a scheme 
with the Due de Choiseul and others to carry off the king. 
That gave me an idea for the rest of the family ; but English- 
men alone could undertake it, and I see a thousand diffi- 
culties. Still, I fasten to the idea. 

Monsieur's declaration for the regency has come ; the 
Archbishop of Tours brought it to me this evening. It is 
well written ; but he ought to take that title only according 
to circumstances, without specifying "until the majority," 
and he ought to have been silent as to pledges. The docu- 



1793] COUNT AXEL TERSEN. 285 

ment will be printed at Cologne ; other printers have not 
dared to do it ; they tried to get it printed at Frankfort. 
Cardinal de Montmorency, who is charged with notifying the 
emigres, wished to assemble them in a court and read it to 
them ; but it was represented to him that, the French being 
here by fact only, not by right (inasmuch as there is an 
order for their expulsion), it would be imprudent. He 
wanted also to make them take an oath of allegiance ; but 
the bishops all opposed that. Not even at a coronation are 
individual oaths taken. Every Frenchman is born a subject. 
Already there are parties among the emigres. Some approve 
of the regency of Monsieur ; others remember the rights of 
the queen ; and it is much to be feared that this division of 
opinion may have bad results some day. The princes are 
already beginning to commit follies. 

6th. The death of the king does not seem to have had a 
great effect upon the emigres ; they console themselves with 
Monsieur's regency. Some have even been to the theatres 
and to concerts. 

13th. News from Cologne that France declared war Feb- 
ruary 1 on England and Holland ; that a manifesto is to be 
issued with an appeal to the people; that eight hundred 
millions of assignats have been decreed, twenty millions to 
buy grain in foreign markets; that wood is to be brought 
from Corsica to build ships at Toulon immediately. Special 
protection given to the English and their property. If this 
were serious it would be laughable, 

16th. Letters from Paris through the Hague tell me that 
the queen is very thin and changed, but is well in health ; 
that the dauphin is charming ; that his guards weep over 
him. Kalkreuth says that the secretary of M. Pache, who 
came with him to Mayence and is the most violent fanatic 
of them all, told him that the Due d'Orldans asked to be the 



286 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. x. 

executioner of the king; he said if they drove him from 
France he should demand to be guillotined, for he would not 
be received in any other country. 

26th. News from Breteuil to the 17th that he knows the 
queen and her family are well in health. They tell that 
Dumouriez said on leaving Paris that in sis weeks he 
should return and find a king there, — apparently the Due 
d'Orl^ans, whom they want to make consul with unlimited 
powers. 

March 7, 1793. Nicolai writes from Paris on the 26th 
that a section deliberated in the Temple, and declared that 
Louis Capet [the dauphin] was born to be a bad man and 
they must make a good one of him by taking him from two 
incorrigible women. There is talk of petitions to condemn 
the queen. It seems certain that the Orleans party are 
working hard; it is thought they may profit by the riots 
caused by want and misery, that they even excite them, to 
prove the necessity of a sovereign and get the Due d'Orl^ans 
nominated. 

30th. Baron de Breteuil arrived to-night. He is person- 
ally much satisfied with Pitt and the English ministers. 
He says that Pitt is a poor man on all external affairs, which 
he does not at all understand, and covers his mediocrity by 
silence ; but he understands perfectly the internal affairs of 
the kingdom, especially intrigue to keep his office and his 
popularity. He thinks the ministry are working towards 
the total ruin of Prance, and are not much interested in the 
preservation of the royal family. The constitutionals have 
proposed to the baron to obtain a decree to exile the queen 
and her family, and for that they ask six millions payable 
when the queen is on foreign soil. The baron spoke of 
this to Mr. Pitt, with a view of obtaining the six millions, 
but Pitt saw great difficulties ; such as dealing with people of 



1793] COUNT AXEL FEKSEN. 287 

that sort, and the fact that they would boast of it ; he prom- 
ised, however, to speak to the king of it, 

30th. Dumouriez has written a letter under date of March 
12, which is published in the " Brussels Gazette," the last 
number printed ; this letter is very strong against the As- 
sembly ; by it Dumouriez seems to wish to break with the 
Assembly altogether. No report of this has been made to 
the Convention, at least none is mentioned in any Paris 
newspaper. It seems certain that Dumouriez has made pro- 
posals to the Prince of Coburg [he was defeated by the 
Prince of Coburg at Neerwinden March 18] ; MM. La 
Marck and Fischer went to his camp and were a long time 
with him; on their return, Fischer instantly started for 
Vienna. 

31st. Eeceived a letter from the Duchesse de Polignac, 
who tells me she has received news of the queen through a 
physician ; he must surely be La Caze. 

April 5, 1793. An express sent by the Vicomte de Cara- 
man [French envoy to the Court of Berlin] to the Baron de 
Breteuil brings the agreement made by Dumouriez with the 
Prince of Coburg. I despatched it by express to Sweden. 
The joy is very keen. It is all the greater to me because I 
fear no longer for the queen. I asked Taube to Write 
me whether I was to regulate my actions according to the in- 
structions I already have, in case the king [Louis XVIL] 
were set at liberty, or whether I must await others ; in the 
latter case to send them instantly, for things might go very 
fast. As he knows the situation best, I thought it better 
to leave the matter to his decision than to ask any questions 
myself. 

In the evening Mar^chal de Broglie received information 
that Dumouriez was marching alone on Paris with fifty 
thousand men, all wearing the white cockade ; and that the 



288 DIAKY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. x. 

Prince of Coburg remained on the frontier ready to support 
him, if necessary. 

7th. I proposed to the baron to send some one who could 
see the queen at the moment of her deliverance, to inform 
her fully as to her position, and to give her advice on what 
she ought to do, in contradiction to that which Mercy would 
not fail to write to her. He liked the idea, and the Bishop 
of Pamiers is to start to-moiTow morning; he is to approach 
the French army and endeavour, through Sainte-Foix, to see 
Dumouriez. 

8th. I was occupied early in the morning in writing a 
note to the queen when the Bishop of Pamiers came to tell 
me that Dumouriez's army had revolted against him ; that he 
had ridden through Mons with his staff, nearly all the officers 
of the engineer and the artillery corps, and many troops of 
the line, and that others were following him. It was Dam- 
pierre who bribed the ISTational Guard. When Dumouriez 
saw that something was plotted, he endeavoured to deliver 
over the artillery and the treasure, but this was prevented, 
and he could only make his escape alone. He was even 
shot at by one of his own detachments. At the first moment 
the news shocked me; my fears for the queen revived; 
otherwise the news would have been good; their army was 
disorganized, and Dumouriez, who, at the head of 50,000 
men would have been a power, was no longer anything. The 
consternation among the French was as great as their joy 
had been ; they now thought all was lost. 

10th. The Mardchal de Castries [agent of the priuces] 
passed through on his way to Brussels some days ago. He 
said he was going on pecuniary business ; but it was doubt- 
less to get nearer to events and to Dumouriez, and negotiate 
the regency. M. de Limon, who has seen Monsieur, assures 
me that, from what Monsieur said to him, he had reason 



1793] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 289 

to believe tliat he would resign the regency to the queen as 
soon as she was set at liberty. I told Limon how important 
it was to induce Monsieur to wiite and send a letter to be 
given to the queen at the moment of her deliverance ; or, at 
least, that Monsieur should take that step the moment he 
received news of her freedom. I said that if he did not do 
this of his own impulse and without consulting any one, he 
would surely be dissuaded by his advisers ; and that this re- 
nunciation was important to avoid intrigues within the coun- 
try, and prevent disunion among the Powers. Limon felt the 
truth of this reasoning, and offered to be the man to induce 
Monsieur to take the step, provided he could be the first to 
give him the news of the queen's deliverance, and so fore- 
stall the deliberations of Monsieur's council and their com- 
munications to the Powers. Breteuil approved of this, and 
we agreed to try, through Metternich, that he should be the 
first person informed of the event. 

17th. Dumouriez arrived at two o'clock; I went with 
Simolin to see him at the post-house. We struggled through 
a crowd of people and found him in a lower room, the win- 
dows besieged by the people outside. He was alone with 
three aides-de-camp. He recognized Simolin ; I named my- 
self; he made me a compliment, saying he ought to have 
known me by my handsome face. I thanked him for his 
courtesies to Berlin ; he answered that if he had not done 
more it was not his fault, but that of circumstances. I told 
him that I was very glad to see him here ; he answered that 
he had long intended it. He told us that Sainte-Foix had 
nothing to dread ; that fear was in Paris and they would not 
dare to do anything to him. I said to him : " Explain to 
us, monsieur, what has taken place in relation to the Due 
d'Orldans." — "I can give you no explanation, monsieur le 
comte," he replied, " for I have never had any relations with 

19 



290 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. x. 

the Due d'Orleans, whom I have always despised, and con- 
sidered a scoundrel. I know, however, that much has been 
said ; and as this rumour is the only stain with which they 
can blacken my conduct, I am going to issue a proclamation 
which will prove that I have never had anything to do with 
him." He said much good of the Due de Chartres, who, he 
told me, did not resemble his father in any way. . . . He 
complained much of Dampierre, who had betrayed him, and 
in whom he had confidence, being, he said, a man of quality 
and born to think rightly. He said his plan had been to 
capture and deliver up [to the Prince de Coburg] Lille, 
Cond^, Valenciennes, and Maubeuge, with the commissioners 
who were there to serve as hostages; that this plan had 
partly failed through the imbecility of those he intrusted 
with it ; but the proposal had already been made to exchange 
the four commissioners against the royal family ; ^ that his 
opinion had been that everything should be granted to get 
possession of the royal family ; after that, no terms should 
be kept with those wretches ; and finally, he said that even 
if the republic were recognized, the war should be continued 
to see which were the stronger, it or the Powers. — On the 
whole, I found him a true Frenchman, vain, confident, heed- 
less; with much intelligence and little judgment. His 
scheme failed through excess of confidence in his strength 
and in his influence with the army. He did not sufficiently 
prepare the thing. I noticed that he was very uneasy and 
nervous at the noise made by the crowd at the door and 
windows; he seemed to be afraid of some mishap. His 
valet came in and complained of being insulted by an emigre; 
he sent him away and said to us : " If those gentlemen push 

1 Eventually these commissioners were exchanged, in November, 1795, 
for the last living member of the royal family, Marie-Therese, afterwards 
Duchesse d'Angouleme. See Life of Madame Elisabeth. — Tb. 



17931 COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 291 

the thing too far I shall show them that I can still make 
myself respected." His man was in the wrong; he said that 
his master had always been a good patriot. The emigres 
were very angry and wanted to knock him down. I left him 
with the fear that some hot-heads might make a scene. 

As he got into his carriage he was insulted. He told me, in 
order to justify the different proclamations he had made, that 
one had to talk to those fellows in their own language, for 
they could not pass from the state of anarchy in which they 
were to despotism without going through various gradations. 

25th. Brussels. Our carriage broke down and obliged us 
to pass a whole day at Aix-la-Chapelle. Propositions have 
been made to exchange the royal family against the four 
commissioners captured by Dumouriez, but they demand, in 
addition, an xmlimited suspension of arms, and the recognition 
of the republic. The Prince of Coburg has asked an explana- 
tion of the term " unlimited suspension," and also that the 
royal family be brought, to the frontier, where the commis- 
sioners would also be brought, and then they would negotiate. 
The answer to these proposals is now awaited. Metternich 
told Facius, the Kussian consul, that he hoped the royal 
family would soon be here. 

28th. The archduke made his re-entrance [into Brussels]. 
He was in a phaeton arranged like a car, drawn by over 
three hundred persons, — a cupid on the box. He was re- 
ceived with demonstrations of affection. He held a Com-t. 
All the apartments are devastated ; in the salon the mirrors 
and tables on one side are broken, the chimney-piece also ; 
the tapestries carried off. At the theatre they offered him 
congratulations ; afterwards there was a ball and supper and 
an illumination. It was quite remarkable what order reigned 
among the crowds who were everywhere. 

May 22, 1793. Dr. La Gaze has been to the Temple : he 



292 DIAEY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. x. 

found tlie queen little changed, but Madame Elisabeth, so 
unrecognizable that he did not know her until the queen 
called her "my sister." She was in the room, wearing a 
night-cap and a very common cotton gown. The little 
Madame had her body all covered with ulcers, and is threat- 
ened with consumption of the blood. Her youth and care 
may bring her safely through it. They write from Paris 
that the young king has been ill, and that the Commune re- 
fused the doctor the queen asked for on the ground that he 
was an aristocrat; they sent one of their own choosing. 
Louis XVII. has had a rupture. 

June 28th, 1793. Mercy says that the queen has been 
very ill, but is now well, and that she was extremely well 
taken care of during her illness. 

July 10th, 1793. A woman just from Paris says they 
are beginning to feel better towards the royal family. The 
queen walks in the garden, and the people applaud when 
they see her ; they even cry out, " Vive le dauphin ! " 

12th. Bad news from Paris. The dauphin is separated 
from the queen by the [word omitted] and put in another 
room in the Temple ; this seems to me very bad ; what awful 
suffering for the queen ; unhappy princess ! 

13th. The bad news confirmed. The separation of the 
dauphin and queen is inconceivable. One only thing consoles 
and gives me a little hope ; it is that they speak more re- 
spectfully of the royal family. Letters from Paris say there 
is a project of taking them to Saint-Cloud, and that General 
Wimpffen is nine leagues from Paris — but this is doubtful. 

25th. News of the taking of Mayence arrived this morn- 
ing ; it surrendered by capitulation on the 22d. Lord Elgin 
arrived last night ; the details he gives as to the operations 
of the Duke of Brunswick are horrifying. He adopted an 
ill-chosen and disastrous defensive. 



1793] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 293 

August 11th, 1793.1 Having talked with La Marck on 
the means of saving the queen, and agreeing that there were 
none except to push forward at once a strong body of cavalry 
to Paris, — which would be the easier to do at this moment, 
because there are no troops before the city and the granaries 
are full, — I went to see Mercy about it, and found him all 
ice to the idea. He saw the impossibilities. He believes 
the royal family lost and that nothing can be done for them. 
He does not think the factious would negotiate ; he believes 
they will go to all lengths in order to so bind the whole of 
France to their crimes that there will be no course for indi- 
viduals to take but that of victory or death with them. He 
ended by telling me there was no hope. I left him and urged 
La Marck to speak to him. He did persuade him to write 
to the Prince of Coburg, and promised to show me the letter 
the next day. — I went to the theatre to avoid what might 
seem like affectation. I found the French all there as usual, 
even the women. Great Gods, what a nation ! 

12th. La Marck brought me the letter to the Prince of 
Coburg, which he had himself written for Mercy; it was 
very urgent and very well done. He proposes the march to 
Paris. . . . Mercy exacts nothing, but the proposals are very 
pressing, and if the Prince of Coburg does not yield to them, 
he will be responsible for the evils that will happen. La 
Marck had great difficulty in getting Mercy to take this 
step ; he was afraid England would not like it, and would 
accuse them of continually changing their plans. Crawford 
reassured him as to the earnest desire of the English minis- 
try to save the family. Mercy begged him to write to 
England and explain the reasons for the new plan, and he 
promised the Oomte de La Marck to send off the letter to 
the Prince of Coburg by express last night. 

1 The queen had been taken to the Conciergerie. 



294 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. x. 

13tli. Letters from Paris to the 6tli say nothing of the 
queen; one from the Duchesse de Mailly to her daughter 
says, in a very involved way, that she is running great 
dangers. 

14th. Papers of 10th mention the queen only to refute a 
false report, but they assert that she is in the Conciergerie. 
Letters from Menin speak of news received there that the 
Convention had proposed to the queen to write to the emperor 
to withdraw his troops, and on that being done she and her 
family would be set at liberty ; but she answered that the 
same promise made to the late king relating to the Prussian 
troops had not saved his life, and, moreover, that she could 
not negotiate with assassins. All this seems to me false. 

16th. The reply of the Prince of Coburg is pitiable; it 
dwells on the idea of going with the whole army to Paris, and 
the impossibility of such an enterprise. In his letter he con- 
siders nothing but the military side, and even the mechanical 
side of that ; for it is plain that the proposed operation was 
the best of all to make if it had no other advantage than 
carrying off all the food supplies in Picardy, the horses, carts, 
etc., possess them himself, and prevent the others from hav- 
ing them. . . . The Prince of Coburg covers himself with 
shame ; he gives the measure of his genius and that of his 
right arm. Prince Hohenlohe, who is only a military routineer ; 
the departure of M. de Mack is more to be regretted than 
ever ; he was the man to have led this thing. 

19 th. At the solicitation of La March the Comte de 
Mercy has decided to send some one to Paris to know what 
is happening, and see if we could negotiate the release of 
the queen for money and the hope of pardon. He has cast 
his eyes on Noverre, the ballet-master, who consents to go, 
and on M. Eibbes, a financier, who has always managed the 
various parties for his private interests ; but who thinks 



1793] COUNT AXEL FERSEN, 295 

well, nevertheless. I went to talk of it with Breteuil ; I 
found him rather opposed to it from the fear that instead of 
quieting their malignity it might increase it by showing 
them the interest taken in the matter. I have always thought 
that as long as the queen was in the Temple with her son, 
and was not threatened, she was safe; but now that 
she is threatened and is parted from her son, and especially 
siQce the refusal of the Prince of Coburg to march his 
cavalry to Paris, I think there is nothing but this one step 
to take, and that it may present advantages without dangers. 
The baron resolved upon it, and I promised to see Eibbes and 
propose the journey to him. — I showed La Marck, whom I 
went to see, that, in order to succeed, the queen must be 
isolated from all political questions, and made simply an 
object of interest to the Austrian family ; it should also be 
shown to those men how useless this fresh crime would be to 
them, and how certain to bring down vengeance on their 
heads; and above all, they should be made to see that it 
could not stop the advance of the allied Powers. He was of 
my opinion, and the baron also. I advised that the step 
should not be taken without informing England and 
Prussia. 

21st. The baron has seen M. Eibbes; he agrees to under- 
take the commission ; as he cannot go himself to Paris he 
will go to the frontier and send for his brother, whom he 
will instruct to see Danton, and, if necessary, ask him for 
an interview near Paris to which Eibbes could go. 

2 2d. The baron has seen La Marck, and they agree per- 
fectly on the sort of commission to give M. Eibbes, though 
they do not agree on political points. 

25th. The gazettes of Paris to the 20th say that the pub- 
lic prosecutor of the revolutionary tribunal has asked for 
documents against the queen, and it is decreed to give them 



296 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. x. 

to him. Tliis makes me tremble ; I am very sure there are 

none, but they will forge some. 

In the Homburg Gazette there are details on the removal 
of the queen to the Conciergerie which have not been in 
any other paper; they are horrible. O'Connell, he who 
served in the Eoyal-Swedish and was so protected by Comte 
d'Artois and the Polignacs, and who remained in the revolu- 
tion, being made a major out of his rank and before others, 
gave the following details. [These details are missing.] 

29th. Eibbes has seen M. de Mercy ; he thought the pro- 
posed instructions good ; but made difficulties about promis- 
ing money ; thought that favours, safety, protection, and 
pardon should suffice. He gave in, however, or seemed to do 
so ; but refused absolutely to let the overture be made in the 
emperor's name. He wanted Eibbes to speak to Danton as 
if from speculators interested in the political condition of 
Europe and anxious to know what to expect. A miserable 
method; and this change in M. de Mercy surprises and 
grieves me. La Marck, without saying so, seems to disap- 
prove it. I am all the more distressed because I think I see 
in the second objection a doubt in Mercy's mind as to how 
far the Powers and even Austria desire the liberty of the 
queen. He added: "I must say it, although with regret, 
that even if the queen were on the scaffold, that last atrocity 
could not stop the Powers or change their course." The Baron 
de Breteuil is extremely irritated against M. de Mercy, and 
is to have a conversation with him. I exhort him to moder- 
ation, to yield to circumstances, and try to get the best he 
can out of them. 

30th. The baron has seen M. de Mercy ; who, in spite of 
all the baron said to him, will not yield his ideas. Breteuil 
became angry and told him if that were so, Eibbes could not 
go and his mission was useless. M. de Mercy wished him 



1793] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 297 

to go and sound Danton, and promised that during that time 
lie would send a courier to Vienna, so that by the time 
Eibbes returned he might be able to speak more positively. 
Eibbes came to me very discontented; he already thought 
himself an important personage, and regretted not being one. 
In that I thought him very French. I induced him to 
undertake the commission in the way M. de Mercy wished ; 
and I persuaded the baron also by telling him that he ought 
to authorize Eibbes and give him greater latitude by naming 
the persons who sent him. The baron pointed out to M. de 
Mercy that the diamonds and the money captured at Semon- 
ville could be used for this purpose. 

September 3, 1793. Eibbes will, at last, start to-morrow; 
La Marck told him to ask Danton to send back with 
him a man in his confidence with whom we could negotiate, 
and to whom we could give all necessary securities. The 
baron sees in this a project to have a man near Danton with 
whom Mercy can negotiate without the baron's knowledge. 
I think this way of lookiug at it too suspicious ; I see in the 
arrival of such a man a surer way of negotiating. 

11th. The Abb^ de Montesquieu has been to see me; 
he has just arrived from England. He told me that M. 
de Mercy must have in his possession, from the queen, 
fifteen hundred thousand francs which he, the abb^ took 
to him. 

13th. The news from Paris which came last night is very 
bad for the queen. It is plain they intend to begin her trial. 
Eibbes has returned ; he took the course of writing to Dan- 
ton in a manner unintelligible to any but himself, and has 
sent him the letter. I fear it will arrive too late. What 
reproaches M. de Mercy will then be forced to make to him- 
self, — he who made us lose eight days by his stay in the 
country, and four more after his return by the difficulties he 



298 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. x. 

made. It is a horror to think of ! God preserve her, and 
give me the satisfaction of seeing her once more ! 

26th. They write from Paris that the queen was subjected 
to an examination before the revolutionary tribunal. They 
asked her if she was the widow of Louis Capet; she an- 
swered : " You know that I am the widow of your king." 
To a second question she replied : " You can be my execu- 
tioners, my murderers, but you can never be my judges." 
After that she was seized with a nervous attack which obliged 
them to take her back to her room. 

October 5th. They have captured Drouet, commissary of 
the Convention, at Maubeuge. He is thought to be the post- 
master of Sainte-Menehould. I doubt it ; I think that man 
was his brother. He is to be transferred here. 

7th. Drouet arrived at eleven o'clock. I went with 
Colonel Hervey to see him in his prison at Sainte-Elisabeth. 
He is a man six feet tall, thirty-three or thirty-four years of 
age, who would be well enough in face if he were not such 
a villain. He had irons on his feet and hands. We asked 
him if he was the post-master at Sainte-Menehould who 
stopped the king at Varennes. He told us it was he who 
went to Varennes, but it was not he who stopped the king. 
He would not open his over-coat, lest he should show his 
chain, which went from his right foot to his left hand. The 
sight of that infamous wretch made me angry, and the effort 
I made to say nothing to him, on account of the Abbd de 
Limon and the Comte de Fitz-James, who were there, made 
me ill. 

An officer captured with him said the queen ran no risk ; 
that she was very well treated, and had all she wanted. The 
wretches ! how they lie ! — An English traveller who arrived 
in Switzerland says that he paid twenty-five louis to enter the 
queen's prison ; he carried in a pitcher of water. She was in 



1793] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 299 

a vault, where there was a bad bed, a table, and a chair. He 
found the queen seated, her face leaning upon and covered 
by her hands, her head wrapped in two handkerchiefs, and 
she herself extremely ill-clothed. She did not even look at 
him, and he said nothing to her, which was agreed upon. 
What a horrible tale ! I shall try to be certain if it is true. 

14th. There was not a word of truth in what Count 
Metternich told us last night. The traveller he spoke of is 
named Aubr^, a lawyer of this city who does business. He 
came from Paris with goods, and never said a word of all that. 
He is a species of Jacobin, that Aubr^. He says, on the con- 
trary, that the queen is not Hi-treated ; that her room was as 
good as it could be in a prison ; that her bed was iron with 
cotton curtains, good mattresses, and the necessary covering, 
all very clean. Her dinner was that of a bourgeoise in con- 
valescence ; when they took away the jailer of the Concier- 
gerie they also took away his wife, who waited on her and 
was very respectful ; since then the queen would have no one 
serve her. He added that he could have saved the queen for 
two hundred thousand francs which were proposed to him, but 
she refused. This put it into M. de Breteuil's head to speak to 
this Englishman himself and offer him two millions if he suc- 
ceeded. I approved the idea, but only on condition that he 
told us his means, so as to be sure he was not regarding the 
queen's deliverance like a lottery ticket, and would not 
expose her life to make two millions without great prob- 
ability of success. 

16 th. I met the Prince de Ligne at Breteuil's. He is 
much dissatisfied at not being employed, and consequently 
blames everything that is done, in which he may be right. 
He told us that the Emperor Joseph was extremely change- 
able ; sometimes kind, sometimes harsh to people, but he 
always became kind when any one held firm against him. 



300 DIARY AND COREESPONDENCE OF [chap. x. 

20th. Grandmaison came to tell me that Akerman, a 
banker, had received a letter from his correspondent in 
Paris which stated that sentence on the queen was pro- 
nounced the evening before, and was to have been executed 
immediately, but circumstances had delayed it ; that the 
people — that is to say, the paid populace — were beginning 
to mutter and say that " this was the day when Marie- 
Antoinette was to appear at the national window ! " 

Though I was prepared for this, and ever since her re- 
moval to the Conciergerie have expected it, still the certainty 
overcame me ; I had no strength to feel anything. I went 
out to speak of this sorrow to friends, to Mme. de Fitz- 
James, and Breteuil, whom I did not find; I wept with 
them, especially with Mme. Fitz-James. The gazette of the 
17th speaks of it. It was on the 16th, at half-past eleven 
o'clock, that this execrable crime was committed ; and divine 
justice has not yet descended on those monsters ! 

21st. I can think only of my loss ; it is awful to have no 
positive details ; to think that she was alone in her last 
moments, without consolation, without a person to whom she 
could speak, to whom she could give her last wishes. It is 
horrible. Monsters of hell ! — ISTo, without vengeance my 
heart can never be content. 

Novemler 6th, 1793. The fate of Madame Elisabeth seems 
to be decided, and those unhappy children are abandoned to 
these infamous wretches ! Madame especially is to be pitied ; 
she is sensitive, and has intelligence enough to feel the whole 
horror of her situation ; they are capable of everything towards 
her. As for the king, they will ruin his natural character, 
and his existence may become an evil to France, if ever he 
is king. What a horror ! and why does not divine justice 
avenge such wrongs ? 

17th. They say that the coach which took the unfortu- 



1793] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 301 

nate queen from the Temple to the Conciergerie was full of 
blood. The coachman did not know whom he drove, but 
suspected it. When they reached the Conciergerie they 
were there a long time without getting out ; then the men 
went first, and the woman last ; she leaned upon his arm ; 
and afterwards he found his coach all full of blood — but 
this is not authentic. 

18th. I went this morning to see M. de Eougeville. I 
found a man slightly crazy, full of himself, of what he has 
done, giving himself airs of great importance, but thinking 
right and in no way a spy. Mme. de Maill^ recognized him 
the other day from her window as a M. de Eougeville who 
spent his life in the queen's antechambers and followed her 
about everywhere. Here in substance, is what he told me 
of his last venture at the Conciergerie : — 

He knew Mme. de Tilleul, an American, quite rich and 
right thinking, and together they formed a project of saving 
the queen. He made acquaintance with Fontaine, an honest 
man who sold wood, and through him with Michonis, 
formerly a lemonade-seller. They were both well-disposed. 
Michonis was struck to the heart about the queen, and re- 
fused the money Eougeville offered him, but he gave it to 
two others in the service. One day he accompanied Micho- 
nis into the prison ; the queen rose and said : " Ah ! is that 
you. Monsieur Michonis ? " Then, seeing M. de Eougeville 
she was greatly overcome, and was on the point of falling 
into her chair, which startled the gendarmes ; but he made 
her a sign to reassure her and tell her to take some pinks, 
among which was a note. She dared not ; and he let them 
drop without being able to speak to her. Michonis left the 
room on business in the prison and he went too ; the queen 
sent for Michonis to return and made him attend to the 
gendarmes, during which time she said to Eougeville that he 



302 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. x. 

exposed himself too mucli. He told her to take courage; 
she would be succoured ; he would bring her money to bribe 
the gendarmes. She said to him : " Though I am weak and 
broken-down, this (laying her hand on her head) is not." She 
asked him if her trial would be soon ; he reassured her. She 
said : " Look at me, look at my bed, and tell my relations 
and friends, if you escape from here, of the state in which 
you saw me." Then they went away. They had gained the 
concierge and his wife. Their plan was that Michonis 
should go at ten o'clock at night with an order from the 
municipality to take her back to the Temple, and then she 
would escape. Thus, by signing the book of the concierge 
no harm would come to him and they were free to go. 
The two gendarmes for fifty louis would say nothing ; a third 
opposed the plan ; Michonis told him he should have an 
order from the municipality, but he threatened to call the 
guard. The plan failed and Eougeville escaped. 

Here are some particulars about the queen: her room 
was the third door on the right after entering, opposite to 
that of Custine. It was on the ground-floor ; the window 
looked upon the courtyard, which was filled all day with 
prisoners, some of whom gazed in through the window and 
insulted the queen. The room was small, damp, and fetid ; 
there was neither stove nor chimney. There were three 
beds : one for the queen, one beside it for the woman who 
waited on her, and. a third for the two gendarmes, who never 
left the room, not even when the queen had wants or gave 
herself natural cares. The queen's bedstead, like that of the 
others, was of wood, a straw bed, a mattress, and a blanket, 
dirty and full of holes, which had long served other prisoners. 
There were no curtains, but there was an old screen. The 
queen wore a black wrapper ; her hair, cut short in front and 
behind, was gray ; she was so emaciated that it was difficult 



1793] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 303 

to recognize her, and so weak that she could scarcely stand 
on her legs. She had three gold hoops on her fingers, but 
no rings. The woman who served her was a sort of fish- 
wife, of whom she complained much. The gendarmes told 
Michonis that Madame ate nothing, and in that way she 
could not live ; they said her food was very bad, and they 
showed him a thin and nearly spoilt chicken, saying : " That 
is a chicken Madame could not eat, and they have brought 
it to her now for four days." The gendarmes complained of 
their bed, though it was precisely the same as the queen's. 
The queen slept always in her black garment, expecting to 
be massacred at any moment, or led to the scaffold. Eouge- 
ville said that Michonis wept with sorrow ; he confirmed to 
him what was told of the queen's loss of blood and said that 
when it was necessary to send to the Temple for the queen's 
black wrapper and the necessary linen he could not get it 
until after the Council had deliberated. Those are the sad 
details that Rougeville gave me. 



304 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. xi. 



CHAPTEE XL 

1792. Correspondence of Count Eersen with the King of Sweden until 
his Death, and with Queen Marie-Antoinette until the 10th of August, 
1792, when the Royal Eamily were imprisoned in the Tower of the 
Temple, and all written Communication with them ceased. Brief State- 
ment of Count Eersen's After-life and of his Death, June 20, 1810. 

[Caelyle, in his fine account of the Flight to Varennes, 
remarks that from that day Count Fersen " disappears into 
unknown space." We have now seen that, on the contrary, 
he was in the centre of European diplomacy, the trusted 
envoy of the one sovereign who was true to the King and 
Queen of France, and himself in the forefront of every effort 
to save them until the fatal day when the axe put an end to 
the object of his chivalrous devotion. After the death of the 
King of France, the Duke-regent of Sweden, in a confidential 
and autograph letter, appointed Count Fersen his ambassador 
to King Louis XVII,, having already made him, in May, 1793, 
a major-general in the Swedish army. But the honour that 
Fersen longed for was denied him. In the midst of the 
Powers of Europe, all able to do the thing he had at heart, 
he was powerless to bring them to do it ; and there is more 
of chivalry in the forlorn hope he then led than in the 
initial act of devotion for which his name is famous. 

The last letters (in cipher and " white ink ") which passed 
between the queen and Count Fersen here follow, interspersed 
with some others of interest. Fersen's general correspond- 
ence until the date of the queen's death is very voluminous, 
and will be found in the work already mentioned: "Le 
Comte de Fersen et la Cour de France;" it relates almost 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 305 

wholly to the many fruitless efforts made by a few faithful 
men to save the royal family of France.] 

Count Fersen to Gustavus III., King of Sweden} 

Brussels, February 29, 1792. 

SiKE, — Baron Taube must already have had the honour to 
lay before Y. M. the details of my journey ; it would there- 
fore be useless to repeat them here. 

I carried to the king and queen the despatches of Y. M. 
which related to my mission. I found them greatly touched 
by the interest that you take, Sire, in their fate ; they have 
charged me to express to Y. M. the liveliest gratitude, and to 
say how dear and precious the memory of it will always be 
to them. They fully feel the impulsion that their escape 
would give to affairs by facilitating the good-will of their 
friends, and also the advantages it would have for them- 
selves; but however useful it would be, Their Majesties are 
too conviuced that success is impossible at this moment to be 
willing to attempt it. . . . The queen, especially, feels deeply 
all the advantages, and assures me that the bad results of 
their first attempt does not prevent them from making a 
second ; but Their Majesties, seeing for the moment no possi- 
bility of success, have refused the project absolutely. They 
have, however, consented to attempt it when the forces of 
the different Powers are united on the frontier and able to 
serve them as a point of support, or as a protection in case 
of an arrest like that of the month of June. The plan I 
have proposed to them for this purpose is to keep to the 
hunting forests and be guided through them by smugglers 
towards the frontier ; there to be met (ten or a dozen leagues 
from the frontier) by a detachment of fifty of the light-horse 

1 Tins letter reports to the King of Sweden the result of Count Fersen's 
mission to Paris in February, 1792. — Tr. 

20 



306 DIAKY AND COKRESPONDENCE OF [chap, xl 

cavalry from one of the armies who could secure their issue, 
while the army itself would be ready to advance to their 
support, if need were. Their Majesties liked this idea, and 
consented to follow it, if they saw at any moment that such 
a course offered great advantages. 

I next presented to the king the two methods of proceed- 
ing as to the congress, which are contained in the memorial. 
He preferred the second, giving as a reason that it offered him 
the best chance of himself joining the congress. I represented 
to him, however, that it might happen that the rebels would 
consent to the demands of the Powers rather than have them 
meddle with the Constitution, and then that the good-will of 
the friendly Powers might find itself shackled by the bad 
faith of the emperor, who would say that having obtained all, 
there was nothing more to ask for. On which he replied : 
" But that would be the very time to insist upon my liberty, 
upon my freedom to leave Paris, and go to some indicated 
spot to sign and ratify the engagements I shall have made 
with the Powers ; and if, as I believe, I shall not obtain that 
liberty, then the Powers will be free to act in my favour." 

Another point on which I thought it important to inform 
myself was the latitude which the king was willing to give 
to the Powers to act so long as he was kept in Paris by the 
rebels, and the degree of caution he thought necessary for 
his personal safety and that of his family so long as he 
remained in their hands. I thought, however, that I 
ought to represent to him the dangers to which he might be 
exposed ; I thought I ought to show him the possibility that 
he might be taken into the C^vennes and placed by the 
rebels at the head of a Protestant army ; at the same time I 
told him I considered these dangers lessened by the neces- 
sity to the rebels of his preservation in order to secure better 
terms ; and as for the C^vennes project, I proposed to him, in 



1792] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 307 

case it were again renewed, to issue a pamphlet full of 
demagogy and invectives against him and the queen, in which 
the C^vennes project should be treated as a scheme of the 
aristocrats to get him out of Paris and bring a foreign army 
into France, 

The king was of my opinion on all these points, and he told 
me that, in case he could not leave Paris by flight or other- 
wise, he desired the Powers to take no heed of his personal 
danger ; that he saw his safety, as I did, in the interest the 
rebels had in his preservation; that he should employ all 
possible means to prevent his being taken out of Paris into 
the provinces ; that democratic pamphlets had already been 
very useful to him, and if necessary, he would use the one I 
suggested to him. The king seemed to me quite decided not 
to hinder the Powers in any way ; and the queen repeated to 
me what she had already said to M. de Simolin : " Tell the 
king there is nothing to fear for us ; the nation needs the 
king and the life of his son, which must be saved ; as for me, 
I fear nothing. I prefer to subject myself to all risks, rather 
than live any longer in the state of humiliation in which I 
am ; everything seems to me preferable to the horror of our 
position." The king repeated the same thing from himself. 
The queen then spoke to me of one other point to be de- 
manded by the Powers, namely, the disarming of the consid- 
erable forces which France now maintains, which are useless 
if she has no hostile projects. This point, she said, could 
not be granted by the Assembly, even if it wished to do so ; 
it was contained in the memorial which the queen had sent 
in the month of September to the emperor ; but M. de Mercy 
never mentioned it to us. 

I then declared to the kmg on the part of Y. M. that your 
intention and that of the Empress of Eussia was not to per- 
mit the establishment m France of a mixed government ; not 



308 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OE [chap. xi. 

to compromise with the rebels, but to re-establish the 
monarchy and the royal authority in its plenitude. The 
queen seized that idea warmly, but the king, though he 
desired it, seemed to think it would be difficult to carry out ; 
but I had no difficulty in proving to him that by means of 
foreign succour and with a firm determination (of which he 
had assured me) not to compromise with the rebels, nothing 
could be easier. He ended by being convinced, and assuring 
me again that his intention was not to compromise with 
the rebels, " for some," he said, " cannot do right, and others 
will not do it." But he begged me, at the same time, 
to represent to Y. M. the necessity under which his position 
puts him to treat with the rebels at this moment, to make 
use of them, and to do all they want, however repugnant it 
may be to him, I assured the king that Y. M. felt the 
necessity of such conduct and approved it, but only as a 
means to gain time and lull their minds. The king also 
requested that Y. M. be not surprised at any steps he might 
be forced to take, and to see in them only the effect of his 
misfortune and the constraint that he is under. All that 
he said as to that, and as to the total abandonment in which 
he was, deprived of counsel and separated from those on 
whose attachment he could count and who might be useful 
to him, touched me to tears. He was good enough to say in 
return very touching and very flattering things for me. The 
queen spoke to me with tender sensibility of the friendship 
and interest that Y. M. and the empress showed for them, 
comparing it with the conduct of the emperor — not to his 
advantage ; and she also compared their experience of 
ingratitude from those of their interior who owed them 
everything with the affection of those who owed them 
nothing. The king charged me to tell Y. M. that he sanc- 
tioned the decree on the sequestration of the property of the 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 309 

emigres solely to prevent its being pillaged and burned, — 
■wMcb would surely have been done had he refused ; but he 
is determined not to consent to the seizure and sale of those 
estates as national property. 

To sum up all, I found the king and queen very deter- 
mined to endure everything rather than continue in the 
state in which they are ; and from the conversations I had 
with them I think I can assure you, Sire, that they strongly 
feel that all compromise with the rebels is useless and im- 
possible, and that there is no means of restoring their author- 
ity but force and foreign assistance. 

The queen has just written to the Queen of Naples, and 
the Queen of Portugal ; the latter is said to be disposed to 
furnish money. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

March 20, 1792. 

M. de Laporte has received no newspapers for a month 
past. I fear you have written to me in that way, all the 
more as I saw in a letter to M. Crawford that you referred 
him to me for details. We cannot use newspapers any 
longer ; there is reason to think they stop them. 

The despatch from Vienna makes much noise : as for me, 
I do not understand it. I fear there is more ill-will ; it is 
clear that he wants to gain time in order to do nothing. 
M. Gog [uelat] will send you papers about all that. Adieu. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie- Antoinette. 

Brussels, March 4, 1792. 
I send you a note which Baron de Breteuil has given me 
for you. He is in pressing need of money, and I hope you 
will find his demand just. ... It is very just ; he is with- 
out resources and liable to lose all he has in Saint-Domingo. 



310 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. xi. 

It would be well to send him one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand francs for the current expenses, and thirty thousand for 
his own expenses ; this would be for six months. If you 
like to remit this money to Perigord, as if for me, telling 
him to send it to me, do so, but in that case you must send 
at once, as the whole sum is wanted in full. Or, if you 
choose, I will see if you can borrow it in Holland, where it 
will cost you five per cent, instead of six or seven. As for 
the sum I hold for you there, I will send you an account of 
it in a few days ; it is, however, insufficient for the above 
expense, and it is best to keep it ; it may be good to have it 
in reserve some day. See if you can find any one in Paris 
to procure you a loan of two hundred thousand francs, in 
Holland or elsewhere, but out of the kingdom ; if so, take it ; 
you will gain much [by exchange] ; then you can remit it 
to me here to the care of the bankers, Danoot, Son & Co. 
I shall pay it to the baron on your order only. 

M. de Mercy has complained to the baron of the discon- 
tent you show as to the emperor's conduct ; he suspects me 
of being the cause, and let it be understood that he had 
proof of it. I think this is only a suspicion, for all my letters 
have reached you ; and if he had developed the writing he 
would not have sent them to you. It is also quite im- 
possible that he could decipher my letters to the King of 
Sweden ; but the baron warned me that I was much sus- 
pected and very inconvenient to them, and that often M. de 
Mercy requested him not to tell me the things he confided to 
him. From that I judge they wiLl seek all possible means 
of injuring me with you, by inventing tales, though 1 ought 
to hope and believe that my zeal and my devotion are too 
well known to you to fear you would believe them. I ven- 
ture, however, to ask you not to leave me in ignorance of 
them, in order that I may refute them and continue to de- 



1792] COUNT AXEL FEES EN. 311 

serve the flattering confidence with which you have been so 
good as to honour me. 

The news from Prussia is still good ; M. C . . . is ordered 
to communicate it to you. The King of Prussia wants to 
put himself at the head of his army. M. de Mercy is en- 
chanted with the emperor's reply ; he boasted to M. de 
Breteuil that he was the author of it. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie-Antoinette. 

March 6, 1792. 

I received yours of 2d yesterday. The details to which 
I referred Mr. C. were in the baron's papers which he sent 
you. As we no longer use the journals, none have been sent 
for two months ; but we shall send them if there is need ; 
notify M. Laporte to send you all he receives. 

The emperor's reply is political galimatias, a lawyer's plea 
that says nothing ; that is the only favourable way of look- 
ing at it. It cannot be reconciled with what he proposed to 
Berlin, — unless by supposing that he reserves to himself, in 
case he is forced to act, to make a subtle distinction in his 
conduct as head of the House of Austria and as head of the 
Empire ; in that case, it is plain that he only wants to gain 
time to save' himself from invasion and put himself in 
the right. But if this is more bad faith, which is prob- 
able, his answer serves him marvellously well. As for 
me, I believe neither the one nor the other; I think he 
always wants to avoid acting, but fears to be forced into 
it by the other Powers, and that he consented to Prussia's 
proposal to raise their forces to fifty thousand men each, 
solely in the hope of excluding thereby the Northern Courts, 
by representing the Prussian and Austrian forces as more 
than sufficient ; and if he does not succeed m that way, then 
he will still be so superior that they will find themselves 



312 DIAKY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. xi. 

compelled to follow the course lie points out. In this way- 
he expects to create in France a government which will 
make that kingdom dependent upon him, take from it its 
strength, and prevent it from ever again obtaining in Europe 
the weight it once had. 

But he does not see that with the influence of the Empress 
of Eussia, the good-will of the King of Prussia, and the am- 
bition of the Duke of Brunswick, his game can be foiled ; it 
is then that the princes could be useful to you; for the 
friendly powers would have the air of yielding to their en- 
treaties, which would secretly emanate from you. The es- 
sential thing is to agree to bring the troops of the different 
Powers to the frontiers of France ; and I have written to 
the King of Sweden, and to Eussia and Spain, that I believe 
everything ought to be sacrificed to obtain that agreement; 
and that while the troops are marching there there will be 
time enough to discuss the point of representing the non- 
liberty of the king, and the question of where the congress 
shall be held, — an assemblage which may then seem less 
important, and possibly useless. 

It is from this way of looking at the emperor's projects 
that I have advised the baron not to be in a hurry, and to 
specify in the promise to reimburse costs (which M. de 
Mercy has asked for) that it wiU be done only after the 
king is re-established in the plenitude of his authority such 
as it was before the revolution. 

You must warn Gog. that every time there is heyond the 
cipher a number and a dash (for example, 49 — ) that means 
there is cipher up to the next full stop [.] ; the rest means 
nothing or will be in white ink. If there is 49, that is, the 
dash helow the number, the letter is for him. If after the 
number there comes plain writing, then he will find white ink 
between the lines. He must be warned of all this. When 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 313 

you write to me, it will be better to do it in white ink be- 
tween the lines of a cipher that means nothing; for they 
might get the true cipher here. You must number each 
letter carefully, that we may be sure none are lost. I am 
certain they are not opened in Paris; they have not the 
machine montee for that. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie-Antoinette. 
No. 3. March 9, 1792. 

We heard last night of the death of the emperor. This 
news gives pleasure to some and pain to others, who fear the 
delay it will cause in our affairs. As for me, I regard it 
more as an advantage for you. The emperor is dead, but the 
archduke of Austria is not; his power and his interest are 
the same as ever. . . . The inclinations of the Archduke 
Francis have always been favourable, and I know that he has 
often blamed the feeble, slow, and undecided conduct of his 
father. He is a soldier in heart ; more like Joseph than like 
Leopold. This event will certainly increase the influence of 
the King of Prussia, whom the Court of Vienna has strong 
interest in pleasing in order to keep the imperial dignity, — 
a circumstance which ought to be very favourable to you. I 
think that a letter from you and from the king to the Arch- 
duke Francis would be very useful at this moment; the 
attention would flatter him and warm his zeal for you. 
After sharing his grief at the loss he has met with iu a 
father, and you in a brother, you might tell him that you 
have not been left in ignorance of the feeling and interest 
he has shown in your fate, and that you hope, from those 
sentiments in him, that he will put more activity into the 
prospects his father held out to you ; and for that reason you 
do not hesitate to give him the same confidence and to 
repeat the request for the sending of a strong body of troops 



314 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. xi. 

to the frontier and the formation of a Congress at Aix-la- 
Chapelle or Cologne. You could tell him that you have 
been assured of the good disposition of the King of Prussia, 
and that you have long had unequivocal proofs of the inter- 
est of the Courts of Petersburg, Stockholm, and Madrid. 
You could end by making him feel that your position re- 
quires you to employ the greatest secrecy, and especially 
towards the princes, on account of the indiscretion of persons 
who surround them, and by asking for his good-will to 
the Baron de Breteuil, who has all your confidence. The 
letter cannot be written too soon. Send it by diligence, 
simply to my address, in a box which will contain cloth for 
a coat, some waistcoats, and new cravats — to make the thing 
look natural and avoid aU suspicion. 

I have not yet received the papers from Gog., the papers 
you mention, nor the letter for the Queen of Portugal ; that 
is necessary, however. Do not forget the matter of the 
money. The better to avoid suspicion, it would be well to 
write at the same time a simple letter of compliments to the 
archduke, and send it by M. de Lessart, to which you might 
add something in the style of those gentry ; reminding him 
in a few words of what you have already written to his 
father, and how much you hope he may follow his steps and 
be as desirous to maintain peace between the two countries. 
But you must manage that the two letters arrive at the same 
time, so that the archduke may not be uncertain as to your 
real meaning. You could inform M. de Mercy as to this, so 
that he may write to Vienna in consequence. In a conver- 
sation he had with the baron he spoke very well, and said : 
" We want no more declarations ; the emperor has at last 
changed his system ; " then rising excitedly, and laying his 
hand on his sword he said : " Tliis is what is wanted ; the 
emperor is decided, and before long we shall have it." I 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 315 

would like to have witnessed such vivacity in M. de Mercy ; 
it must have been a very extraordinary contrast to his usual 
self. 

Baron Tauhe to Count Fersen. 

Stockholji, March 15, 1792. 
The king orders me to direct you to make known to the 
King and Queen of France that in a private audience which 
the new minister of Prussia to this Court had with the king, 
H. M. asked him what his master thought of the present 
state of France. The minister replied: "The Queen of 
France is the sister of the emperor; my master fears that if 
power is recovered by the King of France the queen will 
favour her brother too much." "But," said the king, "if 
France is eclipsed in the political balance of Europe, Eng- 
land will lay down the law to all the Powers." The Prussian 
minister assured him that if his master were satisfied that 
the queen would not give all her influence for the emperor 
he would at once sign a league with the other sovereigns to 
replace the King of France upon the throne. The king told 
him he was certain that the Queen of France, taught by these 
unhappy events, would employ her influence and authority 
solely in [ivord of cipher illegible] or for those who recov- 
ered for her husband and son the crown of France now 
usurped by the Assembly. 

The King of Sweden wishes the Queen of France to know 
of this conversation, that she may understand the fears of 
Prussia, and take whatever measures she considers useful at 
the present conjuncture. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

March 30, 1792. 

I have your letter of 27th. This is a very safe way ; you 
can always write to me under this address, or that of M, 



316 DIAEY AND COERESPONDENCE OF [chap. xi. 

Broune ; "but you must put an n on your letters ; and the first 
time put n—, to be more sure. 

Ask Mme. Sullivan about the way she told Jarjayes I 
could receive ... in a box of biscuits. I must know the 
name of the woman to whom it is addressed. But take care ; 
Mr. C . . . knows nothing of this ; he did not even wish her 
to see Jarjayes the last time. 

What is the meaning of this new letter from Vienna in 
reply to the one by M. de Lessart ? It seems to me as bad 
as the other. Every one here thinks it superb and excellent 
policy. It is certain that it will decide us to attack. They 
are awaiting only an answer to M. Dumouriez's letter. I 
have sent word of this to M. de Mercy. The plan is to 
attack by Savoie, and the country round Lifege ; they hope 
that as there are not many troops on that side they can do 
something. Turin was warned by me three weeks ago. It 
is essential to take precautions around Li^ge. They are 
sending to Deux-Ponts a M. Naiac, who lives in Vienna 
with Cardinal de Eohan ; M. Chauvelin goes as minister to 
London. 

I am much harassed now about finding a governor for my 
son. We have at last decided upon M. de Fleurian, but we do 
not yet know the moment when we shall make it known. 

Mr. Crawford will talk to you of a way to write to me 
without cipher in Italian. Do not forget to send me the list 
of names. Our position continues dreadful, but less danger- 
ous since it is we who attack Austria. The ministers have 
just sanctioned the decree on passports. 

Queen Marie- Antoinette to Count Fersen. 
No. 4. April 15, 1792. 

M. de Maulde starts for Vienna to-day ; it seems to be the 
last mission to the king [of Hungary] ; they are absolutely 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 317 

determmed on war here. So mucli the better if that decides 
the Powers, for our position is no longer endurable. I have 
received yours of the 9th ; there was no number, but I call 
it 2. I am uneasy about the return of M. Gog. I am afraid 
he is watched, he must take great precautions. Adieu. I 
cannot write more ; I must give my letter. 

Count Ferseii to Queen Marie- Antoinette. 

April 17, 1792. 

You must already have heard the crushing news of the 
death of the King of Sweden. You lose in him a firm sup- 
port, a good ally, and I a protector and friend. The loss is 
a cruel one. 

The account that M. Simolin gave the baron of his nego- 
tiation in Vienna promises nothing more active from that 
Court than in the past. The same system is to be followed ; 
and now that the King of Sweden is dead no one can be sure 
what course the Empress of Eussia will take. In this un- 
certainty the surest means is to try to make France attack ; 
a hostile step on your part is the only thing that will decide 
the Powers. Still, if it could be delayed a month it would be 
better. I will explain all this in detail in the box of 
biscuits. 

I have spoken to Mme. Sullivan. The name of the 
the woman is Mme. Toscani ; she is safe ; and if you send her 
a box containing pieces of cloth or other things, as you did 
for Mr. Crawford, she will pass it on. Mme. Sullivan has 
said nothing about it to Mr. Crawford ; he is so timid and 
cautious he would hesitate, and nothing would be done. 
That is why he did not wish her to see General Jar j ayes ; 
for otherwise he has no secrets from her, but tells her all. 



318 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. xi. 

Count Fersen to Baron Taube. 

Brussels, April 18, 1792. 

Since your crushing letter of the 29th I have heard 
nothing from you, my friend ; the German post has doubtless 
been delayed by the bad roads. I cannot comfort myself for 
the dreadful loss we have met with. Every day my sor- 
row is renewed — the memory of kindness ! that memory 
will never leave me ; my gratitude can end only with my 
life. My God ! shall I never again offer him my homage ! 
You will feel the pleasure it would be to me to have his 
portrait, if I could. 

The news we receive from Vienna is not good ; there will 
be no more activity than under the late emperor ; Simolin 
could do nothing. This disposition, and the present uncer- 
tainty about the empress, have led me to advise Their Maj- 
esties to incite the rebels to attack. Since the death of our 
king that is the only resource left to them by which to de- 
cide the Powers. 

I have determined, my friend, not to return to Sweden at 
this moment. As I alone hold the thread of affairs, and all 
those of Their Majesties pass through me, I could not absent 
myself without their interests suffering, or, at any rate being 
wholly interrupted. If there is any such idea about me try 
to set it aside. . . . 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie-Antoinette. 
No. 4. April 19, 1792. 

I received No. 4 yesterday. No. 3 is missing. M. Gog. 
arrived this morning. He brings good news, though nothing 
certain until we receive something more positive from Ber- 
lin. It seems they have at last determined to march. Baron 
Thugut told Breteuil under the deepest secrecy. I will send 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 319 

you the details Saturday in a box of biscuits. M. Gog. 
starts to-morrow ; be goes through France. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 
No. 5. April 19, 1792. 

What follows is in the same cipher, but you can have it 
deciphered by another. Baron B. must tell M. de Mercy 
from me that I dare not write to him directly, or by a 
secretary, because I am horribly watched just now. Perhaps 
I shall never be able to write to you again. I will still try 
to find a way [two lines missing^ .... The king desires that 
the King of England be secretly informed that the letter M. 
Chauvelin bears, though written by his own hand is at least 
not his own style. Adieu ; I will write to you in two days 
on the cover of the " Moniteur." 

The ministers and the Jacobins will to-morrow make the 
king declare war against the house of Austria under pretext 
that by its treaties of last year it broke that of the alliance 
of 1756 [Treaty of Versailles ^ ], and also that it has not 
replied categorically to the last despatch. The ministers 
hope that this step will create fear, and that negotiations 
will begin in three weeks. God grant it may not be so, and 
that vengeance may come at last for all the outrages en- 
dured in this country ! In what will be said in the declara- 
tion there is much complaint of the proceedings of Prussia, 
but no attack upon her. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie-Antoinette. 

Brussels, April 24, 1792. 
I send you a despatch from Berlin which is important. It 
will give you an idea of what is taking place. In support of 

1 See history of this treaty in the " Memoirs of Cardinal de Bernis " in 
the present Historical Series of translations. — Te. 



320 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap, xi, 

this despatch comes the news that Baron Thugut told the 
baron that the King of Hungary [Archduke Francis] said he 
was weary of all that was happening in France and was de- 
termined to put an end to it and act ; that he meant to 
march his troops in concert with the King of Prussia ; that 
if the French attacked they must be kept amused for six 
weeks or two months till the armies could arrive; that 
whether they attacked or not, he was determined to attack 
them ; and they mtist then be amused with appearances of 
peace until the moment when he was able to act. I do not 
know for what reason M. de Mercy does not agree to this 
letter ; he has not spoken of it, 

I received yesterday the news of the declaration of war by 
France, and I am very glad of it. It is the best and only 
thing that will decide the Powers. The Empress of Eussia 
has declared to Vienna her intention of taking an active part 
in the affairs of France ; she says she wishes the restoration 
of the monarchy such as it was before the revolution. It 
was M. de Mercy wlio told me this. 

The news from Spain is not good ; she will not act until the 
Kings of Hungary [the emperor] and Prussia have taken a 
course. The most useful thing she could do, and it agrees 
fairly well with her plans, would be to station a cordon of 
twenty thousand troops along the frontier, and furnish arms 
and ammunition to the Catholics and discontented persons 
in the southern provinces. This has already been asked and 
it ought to be insisted on. ' 

I have as yet no news as to what concerns myself person- 
ally ; I do not know if I shall be continued here or not. 
My father urges me to return to Sweden and abandon every- 
thing. That is what I will never do, even if reduced to 
penury. I have enough property here to support me for 
some time by selling it. But if my father induces the Duke- 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 321 

Eegent to have the same will as himself, I may find myself 
embarrassed by the deprivation of my little revenue. As I 
am dependent on them for that, they may hope in that way 
to hold me ; and even if the duke does not lend himself to it, 
I am afraid my father may try that method ; but I am deter- 
mined that nothing in the world shall induce me to aban- 
don all at this moment.^ 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie-Antoinette. 
No. 8. June 2, 1792. 

Prussia goes right ; she is the only one on whom you can 
rely. Vienna keeps to the project of dismembering France 
and of negotiating with the constitutionals. Spain is bad. 
I hope that England will be otherwise. The empress sacri- 
fices your interests for Poland. Our regent is certainly for 
you, but he can do nothing, or little. He means to send 
away the envoy they have sent to him, and that is why 
he has recalled his charge d'affaires from Paris. He has 
urged the empress to do the same.^ Try to continue the war, 
and do not now leave Paris, Have you sent me the blank 
signatures ? — and to what address ? Mme. Toscani [M. 
Crawford's housekeeper] will bring you my letters. 

The j&rst Prussian column will arrive July 9th. The 
whole army will be there by August 9th. It will act on the 
Moselle and Meuse, the emigres on the Philippesburg side, 
the Austrians on Brisgau, The Duke of Brunswick comes 
to Coblentz July 5. He will advance from there, mask the 
forts, and then with thirty-six thousand chosen troops, march 
straight to Paris. The empress sends fifteen thousand men 

1 See Appendix. 

2 The Duke-Regent of Sweden continued Count Fersen in the same con- 
fidential post in Brussels that he had held under Gustavus III. But the 
Regent's intentions and sympathies were against the course of the latter, 
and he refused to co-operate with Russia in sending troops to France. — Te. 

21 



322 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OE [chap, xl 

of whom three thousand are cavalry. They will disembark 
at Wismar and march through Germany. June 22d she 
sent thirty thousand men to Poland. ^ 

The Yicomte de Caraman has returned within a week 
from Berlin. He brings the positive assurance of the King 
of Prussia that he will listen to no negotiation or compro- 
mise ; that he insists on the king being set free and making 
what Constitution he chooses. He wishes the king to know 
this, also that this resolution on his part cannot change, and 
the king can rely upon it. He furnishes the money for the 
troops he sends. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. ^ 

June 5, 1792. 

\_Plain vjriting.'] I have received your letter No. 7, and I 
immediately withdrew your funds from the Boscaris com- 
pany. There was no time to lose ! the bankruptcy was de- 
clared yesterday and this morning the whole thing is public 
at the Bourse. 

[/ti white ink.] Orders are given for Luckner's army to at- 
tack immediately ; he opposes this, but the ministry insist. 
The troops lack everything, and are in the greatest disorder. 

[Plain writing.] You will send me word what I am to do 
with these funds. If I am master of them I can invest ad- 
vantageously in the purchase of some fine domains of the 
clergy ; that is, no matter what may be said, the best way of 
placing money. You can answer by the same channel by 
which I now write. 

1 This letter is evidently of two dates, although it is printed as one let- 
ter in the French volume. — Tk. 

2 Here begins a series of letters from the queen to Fersen, whom she ad- 
dresses as M. Rignon. They are partly in plain writing on the fictitious 
affairs of the supposed M. Rignon, with passages in cipher or in white 
ink interpersed. The plain writing is not in the queen's hand, but prob- 
ably in that of Goguelat. — Tk. 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 323 

Your friends are fairly well. The loss they have inet 
with is a great trouble to them. I do my best to comfort 
them, but they think the restoration of their fortune im- 
possible. Give them, if you can, some consolation about 
this ; they need it ; their situation becomes daily more dread- 
ful. Adieu ; accept their compliments and the assurance of 
my entire devotion. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

June 7, 1792. 

[In white inh^ The constitutionals have sent a man to 
Vienna ; he will pass through Brussels. Warn M. de Mercy 
to treat him as if he had been announced and recommended 
by me, and negotiate with him on the lines of the memorial 
I sent him. We desire that he shall write to Vienna and 
announce his coming ; recommend that they keep his journey 
secret, and that they hold to the plan made by the Courts of 
Vienna and Berlin, but say it is necessary to seem to enter 
into the views of the constitutionals, and, above all, let him 
think they do this in accordance with the wishes and re- 
quests of the queen ; these measures are necessary. 

It is not the Abb6 Louis who goes; I do not know 
the name of the man who takes his place. Tell M. de 
Mercy that we cannot write to him, being too closely 
watched. 

[_Plain writing.'] Here is the situation of your affairs 
with Boscaris and Choi, of whose failure I told you in my 
last letter. I am expecting news from La Eochelle to let 
you know how you stand with Daniel Garech^ and Jacques 
Guibert. All I know is that their failure is not consid- 
erable. You would do better, as I have already told you, to 
buy the property of the clergy rather than trust your money 
to bankers. If you choose I will employ in that way the 



324 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. xi. 

funds I receive for you next month. I have received your 
7th and 8th. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie-Antoinette. 
No. 9. June 11, 1792. 

The King of Prussia wishes you to know that the Chevalier 
de Boufflers returns to Paris. He asked for orders, but as 
the king has a bad opinion of him he told him nothing, and 
the Chevalier knows nothing of his real intentions; there- 
fore you are to put no faith in anything he may tell you, the 
king having changed in nothing. I think you would do well 
not to see Boufflers at all. 

My God ! how your situation distresses me ; my soul is 
keenly and sorrowfully affected. Try to stay in Paris, where 
they must come to your succour; the King of Prussia is 
decided about it ; you can count on that. 

The empress has asked Sweden for 6000 men ; but money 
is needed for them. You have not told me whether you 
have sent the blank signatures, by whom and how. 

The Sieur Bergsfedt, charge d'affaires of Sweden in Paris, 
to Count Fersen. Meport of what took place at the Tuile- 
ries, June 20, 1792. 

At four o'clock the Tuileries were invested by about 50,000 
pikes ; the cries were : " Down with Monsieur Veto, Ma- 
dame Veto, and all their tribe ! " etc., etc. The National 
Guard seemed determined to keep and defend the gates ; no 
commander directed them. The royal gate was almost un- 
guarded ; three municipal officers required the twelve grena- 
diers who remained there to open it. The pikes then entered 
in floods. The king saw this influx, which was accompanied 
with horrible outcries. He ordered the door of his apart- 



1792] COUNT AXEL FEESEN. 325 

ments to be closed ; they opened those of the two first rooms ; 
the third, that of the Swiss was defended. It was then 
that axes were employed. At the noise made by the break- 
ing in of that door the king called for his hat, and entered 
the hall, ordering firmly that all doors, be opened, saying that 
he wished to show himself to the people and speak to them. 
As he said the words, the door, already battered, was driven 
in and a flood of pikes entered. A few faithful and coura- 
geous grenadiers pushed the king into the embrasure of the 
third window, telling him to trust to them and have no fear. 
" Eear ! " said the king, " put your hand on my heart and feel 
if it beats more than usual." As he said those remarkable 
words, a man with a pike, presenting the point of his weapon 
called out, "Where is he, that I may kill him!" — 
"Wretch!" said an usher of the apartment, "there he is, 
your king ; do you dare to look at him ? " The pikes and the 
flood of men about him recoiled, seized with a sort of terror. 
There was a moment's silence. The king tried to profit by 
it and speak ; but another inundation of pikes arrived with 
such horrible cries that Jove's thunder itself could not have 
been heard. ISTothing was heard but insults, curses, re- 
proaches, threats. In the midst of this infernal scene 
Madame Elisabeth came to throw herself into the arms of 
the king ; she was fortunately caught by the grenadiers, who 
were still guarding that one closed door; they pushed her 
behind them into the embrasure of the fourth window. 
There she remained three hours ; the king the same time in 
his. The crowd flung a honnd rouge to each of them and at 
the earnest entreaty of the grenadiers the king put his upon 
his head. 

When the attack began the queen was with the dauphin 
in his apartment. At the first outcries she wished to go to 
the king ; but already the intervening room was seized. She 



826 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. xi. 

cried out, " I wish to die at the king's feet ! " They disobeyed 
her, and took her in spite of herself to the Council chamber 
where they made a rampart of the Council table, and a Mon- 
sieur Blegny went to call the grenadiers, who were still 
guarding a door now useless, inasmuch as the people were in 
all the rooms. Two hundred grenadiers followed him up a 
little staircase ; they surrounded the table behind which were 
the queen and dauphin ; and certainly it was providential that 
they took and occupied that position, for they were still 
moving to it when the apartment of the dauxjhin was seized 
through a door which the leader of the pikes seemed to know 
better than others, for very few of the servants of the house- 
hold knew of it. Two troops of pikes entered the council 
chamber at the same moment by opposite doors. M. San- 
terre, speaking in some sort in their name, harangued the 
queen. The queen, with supernatural courage, replied with 
an accent and majesty worthy of Maria Theresa. It was 
noticed that as she spoke the pikes drew back. Communi- 
cation was then re-established between the room where the 
king was and that of the queen ; by this manoeuvre the pikes 
returned to the staircase, and some went down instead of 
re-entering. They succeeded by help of the grenadiers in 
bringing the king to where the queen was. The people 
cooled down, became pitying, some wept. The mayor, Pdtion, 
harangued them, congratulated them on their "brave con- 
duct," and then dismissed them. 

Never was courage greater, grander, more dignified than 
that of the king, the queen, and Madame Elisabeth. The 
queen several times heard the people calling for her head, 
but her countenance never changed. 

This date recalls a like event and foretells another — the 
scene, the actors, the means all changed. 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 327 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie- Antoinette. 
No. 10. June 23, 1792. 

The sending of Gog. to Vienna was known at Coblentz on 
the day he arrived here, and the same day an express was 
sent from there to Petersburg to notify the empress. Bom- 
helles writes it from there. There is certainly some one in 
your interior who writes everything to the princes. 

If Aranda [Spanish prime-minister] wants to have a direct 
correspondence with you, avoid it ; he is false and wants to 
negotiate, and then you are lost. Our regent thinks rightly ; 
he sends me letters of notification for you, with orders to 
send them to you without passing through your ministers, 
with whom we hold no communication. I fear that Spain, 
England, and the emperor [Francis II.] want to negotiate ; 
we shall ward it off if possible. The emperor has the project 
of dismemberment, and if he does not obtain it from you, he 
will treat with the constitutionals and obtain it from them ; 
you will then lose your authority without preventing the 
dismemberment. You must decide, if this becomes inevi- 
table. What is your will in the matter ? — There is perhaps 
one means of preventing it, namely : to give the King of 
Prussia a pledge in writing of reimbursement. He desires 
it, but he wants the king's signature. I still have one blank 
signature left, which I have not mentioned to the baron. 
Do you wish me to make use of it if it would be useful to 
us to secure the opposition of the King of Prussia to all dis- 
memberment ? Have you sent me other blank signatures, 
and how ? It would be well if I had three more. Buy two 
pretty bonnets at the " charlotte de deuil ; " send them to 
Mme. Toscani, and tell her to sew the three papers to their 
foundations under the lining ; and tell her to send them to 
M. Sullivan ; she knows how. The signature can be written 



328 DIAEY AND COERESPONDENCE OE [chap. xi. 

in "black, or if necessary in white ink. In that case make a 
pencil mark where the name is. You could even (in both 
cases) have the shop bill written on one page of the sheet, 
for we only need the other page. Be sure that I shall use 
the signatures only if necessary and useful. 

I have given your message to M. de Mercy; he under- 
stood it very well, and he has written to Vienna in conse- 
quence. In the affair where Gouvion was killed, Lafayette 
lost four hundred men, the peasants say ; the Austrians one 
hundred and fourteen killed and wounded. I have warned 
Eussia and Berlin of the sending of the Constitution, lest 
they be tempted to make bad use of it. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

June 23, 1792, 

[ White ink.'] Dumouriez starts to-morrow for Luckner's 
army ; he promises to incite Brabant to insurrection. Saint- 
Huruge starts also for the same purpose. 

[Plain writing.] Here is the statement of sums I have 
have paid for you. I will send you that of your receipts as 
soon as I have made it out. 

I think I have received all your letters. The last two are 
8 and 9. The 9th was dated June 11th. I did not keep the 
date of the other. 

Your friend is in the greatest danger. His illness makes 
frightful progress. The doctors can do nothing. If you 
want to see him you must hasten. Inform his relations of 
his unfortunate state. I have finished your affairs with him, 
and I have no further anxiety on that point. I will give 
you news of him assiduously. 



1792] COUNT AXEL EERSEN. 329 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

June 26, 1792. 

[Plain writing.'] I have received your ISTo. 10 and hasten 
to acknowledge it. You will receive shortly all details relat- 
ing to the purchase of the property of the clergy which I 
have made for you. I confine myself to-day to putting your 
mind at ease about the investment of your assignats ; I have 
hut few left, and in a few days I hope they will be as well 
invested as the others. 

I am sorry not to be able to reassure you about your 
friend. For three days however, the disease has made no 
progress; nevertheless, the symptoms continue alarming. 
He needs a crisis to bring him out of his present condition, 
and there is no appearance of that ; this makes us despair. 
Inform all persons who have dealings with him of his situa- 
tion, in order that they may take their precautions; time 
presses. I shall keep you informed of the better or the worse 
of his state. Send punctually to the post. Adieu. Eeceive 
the friendship and compliments of all who interest you. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie- Antoinette. 
No. 12. June 30, 1792. 

I received yesterday your letter of the 23d. There is 
nothing to fear as long as Austria is not defeated. A hun- 
dred thousand Dumouriez could not incite this country 
[Austrian Low Countries] to rebellion, although it is well 
inclined to it. 

Your position makes me ceaselessly anxious. Your cour- 
age will be admired, and the firm conduct of the king will 
have an excellent effect. I have already sent the accoimt 
of the king's conversation with Petion everywhere ; and I am 
going to send it to the " Gazette Universelle ; " it is worthy 



330 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. xi. 

of Louis XIV. The same tone should he continued, and 
above all try not to be made to leave Paris. That is an 
essential point. There it will be easy to reach you, and 
that is the object of the Duke of Brunswick. He will pre- 
cede his entry with a very strong manifesto in the name of 
the Allied Powers, which will render all France and espe- 
cially Paris responsible for the persons of the royal family. 
He will then march straight to Paris, leaving the combined 
armies on the frontier to mask the forts and prevent the 
troops that are in them from acting elsewhere and opposing 
his operations. The empress is marching thirteen thousand 
men, and our regent consents to give her the eight thousand 
she asked for. They are ready, and will march as soon as 
we can get the money. 

The Duke of Brunswick arrives at Coblentz on the 3d of 
July; the Prussian division on the 8th. Seven thousand 
men are to be detached at once for this country, and sta- 
tioned at Luxembourg. Those who are here have committed 
a folly ui not attacking Luckner on his arrival. At present 
he is too well posted and intrenched ; there is every appear- 
ance that they will leave him there, until the other troops 
arrive. They have committed another folly in letting sixty 
chefs be taken before Maubeuge. 

One M. Viette has passed through here; he told the 
Vicomte de Caraman that he was sent by you to Coblentz on 
a mission. He showed him a letter addressed to General 
Schmidt, written, he said, with white ink between the lines. 
He has no doubt made the same confidence to other persons. 

I wrote you on the 25th, No. 11, through Gog., and No. 10 
through Mme. Toscani. Answer me about the blank signa- 
tures and the dismemberment. You ought to make Gog. write 
to me every Sunday and Wednesday to give me details of 
all that happens. When he writes : " They say, but I do 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 331 

not believe it" I shall know that the thing is certain. 
All letters written by this means arrive. 

Queen Marie- Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

July 3, 1792. 

[In cipher^ I have received yours of the 25 th, No. 11. I am 
much touched by it. Our position is dreadful, but do not be 
too anxious. I feel courage ; I have in me something that 
tells me we shall soon be saved and happy. That one idea 
sustains me. The man I send is for M. de Mercy. I have 
written him very strongly to decide to speak. Act in a way 
to awe here : time presses ; there is no way to wait any longer. 
I will send the blank signatures in the way you requested. 

Adieu ; when shall we see each other again in peace ? 

Queen Marie- Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

July 6, 1792. 

\_In cipher.'] They brought me your last letter, written in 
white, after they had brought out the writing. This is the 
second time this has happened. We must take other meas- 
ures to prevent this trickery. You will see the importance 
of this warning. 

A terrible catastrophe is expected on the 14th in all 
corners of Paris, especially at the Jacobins. They preach 
regicide ; sinister plans are being laid ; but, being known, 
they may, perhaps, be foiled. The Jacobins from all the 
provinces are arriving here in crowds ; there is not a day 
that I am not warned to be upon my guard, — sometimes by 
an officious person, sometimes by an intriguer. I am not 
left a moment of tranquillity. 

I have the three blank signatures ; but I do not know how 
to send them, as the public coaches run no longer. Point 
out to me some other way. 



332 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. xi. 

Do not be too anxious on my account. Believe that 
courage always awes. The course we have just taken will 
give us, I hope, the time to wait ; but six weeks are very 
long. I dare not write more. Adieu. Hasten, if you can, 
the succour promised for our deliverance. 

\_In white ink.'] I exist still, but it is a miracle. The day 
of June 20th was dreadful. It is no longer I whom they 
chiefly want to destroy ; they now want the life of my hus- 
band, and make no secret of it. He showed a firmness and 
strength which awed them for an instant, but the danger 
may return at any moment. Adieu ; save yourself for us ; 
and do not be too anxious about us. 

Queen Marie- Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

July 7, 1792. 

[Plain writing^ I sent you, some days ago, a statement 
of your current debts. Herewith is a supplement which I 
received this morning from your London bankers. 

\In white ink.] The different parties in the National As- 
sembly united to-day. This union cannot be sincere on the 
part of the Jacobins ; they are dissimulating to hide some 
project. We suppose one of their projects to be to make the 
king demand a suspension of arms and force him to nego- 
tiate a peace. You must give warning that all official action 
of that nature is not by the will of the king ; and if he is 
forced by circumstances to manifest his will he will do so 
through the organ of M. de Breteuil. M. Crawford will re- 
ceive before long the three blank signatures : warn him, so 
that he may open the package carefully. They are all writ- 
ten in white ink. 

[Plain writing.'] I think you can do nothing better than 
invest here. Tranquillity is being restored, and all parties 
are uniting at this moment to carry out the Constitution, 



1792] COUNT AXEL EERSEN. 333 

Give me carte hlanche and I am sure you can make good 
purchases and double your funds in two years. I have just 
bought the house we looked at together, rue de I'Universitd ; 
it will cost me, all things included, 157,000 francs. Adieu, 
my family are all well, and send their compliments ; they 
desire ardently to see you again. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie-Antoinette. 

Brussels, July 10, 1792. 

M. Lasserez and M. Leonard have arrived and brought me 
your letters. I have no need to tell you that they give me 
great pleasure. Your courage is admirable, and the firmness 
of your husband has had a great effect. Both must be pre- 
served to resist all efforts to make you leave Paris. It is 
very important that you remain there. Nevertheless, I am 
of M. de Mercy's opinion as to the one case in which you 
ought to leave it; but you must take care before you attempt 
it to be very sure of the courage and fidelity of those who 
contrive your escape ; for if it fails you are lost beyond 
redemption, and I cannot think of it without a shudder. 

They are hastening the operations as much as possible ; 
in the first days of August the advance will begin. But to 
speak strongly at this moment without being ready to act at 
the moment of speaking would be a measure that would fail 
in its effect. It would not awe, and might expose you still 
further. 

From what you say about the sending of the blank signa- 
tures, I infer that you approved what I wrote to you ; conse- 
quently, under circumstances more or less urgent, I shall 
make use (while awaiting the others) of the one I still have. 

The conduct of Spain is shameful and blamed by all 
Europe. England does well. Our regent, in consequence 
of the de Stael intrigues, will not put himself forward. I 



334 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. xi. 

try to foil Stael all I can ; he sees mucli of M. de Yerminac. 
We shall take care that the manifesto be the best possible ; 
we are now busy with it. It makes the city of Paris respon- 
sible for the safety of the king and his family. 

The horrible scene of June 20th has revolted all Europe 
and cost the revolution many of its partisans. Luckner and 
Lafayette seem to be abandoning this frontier and moving 
into the Bishoprics. If the Austrians had shown a little 
more activity they could have carried off the Due d'Orl^ans, 
and defeated Luckner's army at Courtrai. The princes are 
to have an assembly of parliaments and peers at Manheim ; 
a folly : we shall try to prevent it. It is M. de Luxembourg 
who instigates all that. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

July 11, 1792. 

[Plain writing^ I feel, my dear Eignon, what interest you 
have, relatively to your financial operations, in being au 
courant of passing events; so I shall do what depends on 
me to leave you nothing to desire in that respect. Neverthe- 
less, I ought to inform you that, my connections being of 
little extent and the circle in which I live being very narrow, 
I shall be but a poor resource. But if I can be to you of 
little real utility, at least I can prove to you my zeal and 
good-will. 

You have no doubt heard of the coming together of the 
different parties in the Assembly, of the step taken by the 
king to the Assembly, of the suspension of Potion and 
Manuel by the department, of a few slight movements of 
the people to reinstate the mayor in his functions, and the 
wishes of part of the Assembly as to that. That is the 
matter which chiefly occupies the Parisians to-day. It is 
said that Pdtion will be reinstated, because there is a flaw in 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 335 

the form of the suspension, so that the king will not confirm 
it. Others say that the king, alarmed at the power of the 
mayor, disgusted with his pride, and convinced of his bad 
intentions, will confirm the sentence of the department, but 
I do not believe it. The peace that Lamorette brought back 
into the National Assembly only lasted a moment. Brissot 
made a speech tending to inquire into the conduct of the 
king since the beginning of the revolution and proposing to 
suspend him ; tending also to declare the nation in danger, 
and the ministers responsible in a body ; declaring also that 
they had not the confidence of the nation, and proposing a 
decree of accusation against Chambon, etc. This incident 
set every one to quarrelling again. The result was that the 
six ministers were summoned, and required to render an 
account within twenty-four hours of the state of the interior 
of 'France, of the frontiers, and of the army. They found 
fault with them so harshly for four hours, and the ministers 
felt so overweighted by the responsibility put upon them, 
that they all resigned yesterday morning; and to-day the 
king has no ministers. The cowardice of the latter is gener- 
ally blamed ; they had nothing to fear by following the line 
of the Constitution. 

People are uneasy at the approach of the anniversary of 
the Federation. It is feared that that religious and patriotic 
fgte may be the pretext of an attack upon the Tuileries. The 
ceremonial is not yet arranged. The royal family are to be 
present at it. The number of Federals who will attend, 
especially from the Southern provinces, is much smaller than 
was expected. Some are stopped by fear of being sent to 
fight on the frontier; others by work on the land. The 
greater number are from the neighbourhood; it is thought 
that all will pass off tranquilly. 

The Due d'Orleans has quitted the army in Flanders ; he 



336 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. xi. 

is now at Kince; lie is held in such contempt among the 
troops that he was obliged to depart. I wlLI render you in a 
few days a summary of the business I have done for you 
since the first of the month. 

[I7i white ink.] The constitutionals, united under Lafay- 
ette and Luckner, want to carry the king off to Compifegne 
the day after the Federation ; for this purpose the two gen- 
erals are here. The king is disposed to lend himself 
to this purpose; the queen opposes it. It is not known 
what will be the upshot of this great enterprise, which I am 
very far from approving. Luckner takes the army of the 
Ehine, Lafayette that of Flanders ; Biron and Dumouriez go 
to that of the centre. 

[Plain writing.] Your banker in London is not very 
punctual in remitting to me your funds. I wish you would 
write him a few words about it. Adieu^ my dear Kignon; 
I embrace you with all my heart. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

July 15, 1792. 

{Plain writing^ EvU-minded people cause much anxiety 
as to the event of the Federation. They announced the 
arrival of a multitude of brigands and a criminal enterprise 
on their part. Perhaps you are agitated by the same fears ; 
so I hasten to reassure you as to the fate of all in whom you 
are interested here. M. Potion is recalled to his functions 
by the National Assembly and the will of the people. He 
has the public confidence which makes us hope that if any- 
one, by his personal influence can secure peace and success- 
fully oppose the schemes of factious persons it is this 
magistrate, father of the people ; it is thus that he is called 
by true patriots. 

General Luckner arrived here on the night of the 13th. 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 337 

He will appear to-morrow before the ISTational Assembly. 
They say he has come to ask for an increase of 50,000 men 
to his army. 

Paris is still in great agitation ; they expect a great event 
which each party wants to turn to its own advantage ; but I 
cannot explain myself further. A single day destroys calcu- 
lations and changes circumstances. To keep you informed 
of events I ought to write to you twice a day. 

We have here five or six thousand Federals, nearly all 
issuing from the club of the Jacobins. Some mean to stay 
here ; others go to the camp at Soissons. We are expecting 
daily the armies of Marseille and Bordeaux. The three 
regiments of the line which were guarding Paris are to start 
for the frontier, by virtue of a decree of the Assembly, in two 
or three days. There is much talk of sending away the 
Swiss Guard. 

That, my dear Eignon, is about how things now are. I 
will write you to-morrow about your private affairs ; to-day 
I have not the leisure. Adieu, I am wholly yours. 

Send me word if you have received the gloves I sent you. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie- Antoinette. 
No. 13. Brussels, July 18, 1792. 

I have received all your letters and the three blank 
signatures ; but the name comes out so feebly that I am not 
sure if I can make any use of them. If you could find a 
safe means to send me others written in a stronger ink it 
would be well. 

The princes have sent a memorial to all the Powers, in 
which they state that the king, by agreement with the con- 
stitutionals and deceived by them, is about to negotiate for a 
truce, etc, and begging them to pay no attention to it. They 
have sent this memorial to the baron asking his reply to it. 

22 



338 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap, xi. 

He was indignant and denied positively that such a thing 
had been done. He at once wrote to Count Schulemburg 
and the Duke of Brunswick that the princes were in error ; 
and I have written it everywhere myself. M. de Calonne, 
to make it supposed that the baron was in agreement with 
such conduct, said : " You will see that the baron will not 
answer you." He advises many follies to the princes. 
M. de Lambert does well and tries to prevent them, and the 
Duke of Brunswick holds them back, but all this gives much 
trouble. . . . 

They are working at the manifesto. I have written one 
which I gave to M. de Limon, and he has given it to M. de 
Mercy, without his knowing that it is mine. It is very 
good, and such as they ought to desire. Nothing is promised 
to any one, no party is affronted, we are pledged to nothing, 
and Paris is made responsible for the king and family. They 
say that operations will begin on the 15th of August. Send 
me six copies of the " Cri de la douleur." I want to send 
them everywhere. 

Queen Marie- Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

July 21, 1791. 

[Plai7i writing.] I send you to-day two pamphlets, two to 
Mme. Sullivan, and two to Mr. Crawford. I am very glad 
that you were pleased with the gloves I sent you. 

All the members of the department of Paris have sent in 
their resignations. A great number of the deputies of the 
right will do the same. M. Mathieu Montmorin has given 
his and gone to England. To-morrow they will definitely 
settle the fate of M. de Lafayette ; it is generally thought he 
will be decreed accused. 

The king, the queen, and Madame Elisabeth never appear 
in the garden without being insulted, in spite of the precau- 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 339 

tions taken to allow none but federals and persons who have 
tickets of service to enter the garden. The latter blame the 
federals, but it is more likely that the matter is an abuse of 
the cards rather than an abuse of their liberty by the federals. 
In addition, the rumour goes — but I warn you I do not 
believe a word of what I am going to tell you — that the 
Jacobins have more than ever a scheme to leave Paris with 
the king and go to the Southern provinces. For this pur- 
pose, it is said, they are bringing from the provinces numer- 
ous detachments of the National Guard drawn from all the 
JacoMnieres ; eight hundred are to arrive to-morrow from 
Marseille. They say that in eight days this assemblage will 
be strong enough to execute that project. Others say that 
the Jacobins of the Assembly are awaiting the manifesto of 
the foreign Powers to take a course. It is expected this 
week ; it is not known why it is delayed. If you know any- 
thing about its priacipal articles I wish you would let me 
know. On my side, I will keep you informed, as best I can, 
of what is going on here. Send me word if you have re- 
ceived all my letters. 

All in whom you are interested here are well. I gave 
them news of you last evening ; they heard them with pleas- 
ure and charged me to tell you so and urge you to write as 
often as you can. Adieu, my dear Eignon ; I embrace you 
very tenderly. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 

July 24, 1792. 
l^In cipher.'] In the course of this week the Assembly will 
decree its removal to Blois and the suspension of the king. 
Every day produces a new scene ; but always tending to the 
destruction of the king and his family ; petitioners have said 
at the bar of the Assembly that if he is not deposed they will 



340 DIAEY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. xi. 

massacre him, and they have had the honours of the session 
paid to them. Tell M. de Mercy that the lives of the king 
and queen are in the greatest danger ; that the delay of a day 
may produce incalculable evils ; that the manifesto must be 
sent at once, that it is awaited with extreme impatience; 
that necesarily it will rally many persons round the king and 
secure his safety ; otherwise, no one can answer for what may 
happen ; the troop of assassins increases daily. 

\_Plain writing.'] I have employed the rest of your funds, 
of which the above is an exact statement, in the purchase of 
two houses nearly new with good rentals. . , . These two 
houses can be let for ninety-five hundred francs ; thus you 
see that your funds are not ill-invested. 

Send me word if you have received the four preceeding 
numbers. Two days ago a letter was given to me from you, 
which I have sent to its address. You have probably re- 
ceived the six pamphlets you asked for. 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie-Antoinette. 
No. 14. Brussels, July 26, 1792. 

I have received your letter No. 4, and one of July 7 with- 
out number. I have already given warning that nothing is 
to be believed unless it comes through the Baron de Breteuil. 
You did very right not to let yourself be led away by Lafay- 
ette and the constitutionals. We have never ceased to 
hurry the manifesto and the operations. The latter will 
begin on the 2d or 3d of August. The manifesto is ready, 
and here is what M. de Bouilld, who has seen it, writes to M. 
de Breteuil: "They have followed your principles, and I 
venture to say ours, wholly in the manifesto and the general 
plan, in spite of the intrigues which I have witnessed, and at 
which I laughed, feeling certain, from what I knew, that 
they could not prevail." He is at Mayence, very well 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 341 

treated by the archduke and the king. — We have insisted 
that the manifesto shall be threatening, especially as regards 
responsibility for the persons of the royal family, and also 
that there shall be no question of the government and the 
Constitution. — Schulemburg [Prussian minister] writes to 
the baron that the king will listen to no negotiation, and 
wants the liberty of the king. They are printing a succinct 
statement of the reasons that make them go to war, which I 
send you ; it is rather well done. — Here is the baron's pro- 
ject for the ministry : War, La Galissonnifere, who, he says, 
has furnished him with good ideas ; Havi/, du Moustier ; the 
Seals, Barentin; Foreign Affairs, Bombelles; Paris, La 
Porte ; and Finances to the Bishop of Pamiers, to avoid sys- 
tems and have a man of order and firmness, with a finance 
council of six members. Write me as soon as possible what 
you think of this. We have succeeded in excluding La 
March from affairs, and in preventing the emperor from send- 
ing him to reside with the Duke of Brunswick. The King 
of Prussia would not have M. de Mercy at the conference ; 
he attributes to him the slow, nerveless, and double con- 
duct of the Court of Vienna. The emigres are to be 
divided into three corps to act with the armies, but they will 
not be the advance guard as they had requested, and they 
will not be allowed to act independently. I insisted strongly 
on that. The princes will be with the King of Prussia, the 
Prince de Cond^ with Prince Hohenlohe, the Austrian, and 
M. d'Egmont who commands the 3d corps with General 
Clerfayt. Mardchal de Castries boasts of receiving communi- 
cations direct from the king ; he has even made the baron 
believe it. He is a poor head in affairs. 



342 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap, xl 

Count Fersen to Queen Marie-Antoinette. 

Brussels, July 28, 1792. 

I have this moment received the declaration of the Duke of 
Brunswick [the manifesto], which is very good ; it is the one 
given by M. de Limon, and it is he who sends it to me. To 
avoid suspicion I do not send it to you ; but Mr. Crawford 
sends it to the English ambassador, Lord Kerry, and he will 
certainly show it to M. de Lambesc. 

This is the critical moment and my soul trembles for 
it. God preserve you all ; that is my sole prayer. If it is 
useful to hide yourself do not hesitate, I beg of you, to do 
so ; it may be necessary, to give time to reach you. In that 
case, there is a cellar in the Louvre, connected with the 
apartment of M. de Laporte. I believe it to be safe and 
little known. You could make use of it. 

To-day the Duke of Brunswick puts his army in motion; 
it will take him eight to ten days to reach the frontier. It 
is thought that the Austrians intend to make an attempt on 
Maubeuge. 

Queen Marie-Antoinette to Count Fersen. 
No. 7. August 1, 1792. 

[Plain writing."] I have received your No. 14 of July 26, 
with the printed paper inclosed. I at once terminated the 
matter of which you wrote, and I now wait only for the 
necessary funds to fulfil my engagements ; I think it would 
be best to send the money in specie as there is much to gain 
now by exchange on assignats. 

I have not yet leased your houses. The troubles in Paris 
are driving away the sort of people who would hire them. 
The murder of M. Desprdmenil, the arrival of great numbers 
of suspicious strangers, and fear of the pillage of Paris are the 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 343 

principal causes of tliis exodus. Those wlio do not leave 
France go to Eouen and its environs. The event of the 30th 
has increased the uneasiness, irritated one half of the Na- 
tional Guard and discouraged the other. They are expecting 
a coming catastrophe; the emigration is doubling. Weak 
persons with pure intentions, those of uncertain courage and 
integrity hide themselves ; the evil-intentioned alone show 
themselves with audacity. A crisis is needed, to bring the 
city out of the state of constriction in which it is ; every one 
desires it, every one seeks it in the line of his own opinions ; 
but no one dares calculate the results, fearing they may be 
to the profit of wretches. Whatever happens, the king and 
all honest men will not allow any attack on the Constitution ; 
if that is overthrown they will perish with it. 

Your friends are well and send you many compliments, 
desiring ardently to see you soon. 

P. S. The package I sent to you by diligence bears the 
number 141, and each piece of stuff the following letters 
[m cipher~\. White ink below. 

[In white ^?^^^] The king's life is evidently threatened,, 
also that of the queen. The arrival of about six hundred 
Marseillais, and a quantity of other delegates from all the 
Jacobins increases our anxiety, which is, unhappily, but too 
well founded. They are taking precautions of all kinds for 
our safety, but assassins prowl round the palace inces- 
santly ; they excite the people ; there is ill-will in one part 
of the National Guard, weakness and cowardice in the 
other. The resistance that can be opposed to the enterprises 
of those wretches is solely in a few persons determined to 
make a rampart of their bodies for the royal family, and in 
the regiment of the Swiss Guards. The affair which took 
place on the 30th, after a dinner in the Champs Elysdes, 
between one hundred and eighty grenadiers of the ^lite of 



344 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF [chap. xi. 

the National Guard and the Marseille Federals, shows clearly 
the cowardice of the National Guard and the little reliance 
to be placed on that troop, which, in point of fact, imposes 
only by its numbers. The one hundred and eighty grena- 
diers took to flight ; two or three were killed and some 
twenty wounded. The Marseillais now police the Palais- 
Eoyal and the garden of the Tuileries, which the Assembly 
has ordered to be thrown open. In the midst of such dan- 
gers it is difficult to concern ourselves with the choice of 
ministers. If we obtain one moment of tranquillity, I will 
write you what is thought of those you propose. Tor the 
moment we can think only of escaping daggers and foiling 
the conspirators who swarm about a throne so near to disap- 
pearing. For a long time these wretches have taken no 
pains to conceal their purpose of destroying the royal family. 
At their last nocturnal meetings they differed only as to the 
means to be employed. You must have judged from a pre- 
ceding letter how important it is to gain even twenty-four 
hours ; I can only repeat it to-day, adding that if they do not 
come, nothing but Providence can save the king and his 
family. 

[Those are the queen's last words to the world. Before 
they reached Fersen the 10th of August came and she was 
lost forever to the sight of men. The story of Count Fer- 
sen's subsequent efforts for her, in fact of all his hopes 
and efforts for her, is one of cruel, unspeakg-ble disappoint- 
ment : the failure of Varennes ; the cold indifference of 
the emperor to his sister's fate ; the dull diplomacy of the 
Courts, each waiting on the others for the purpose of 
doing nothing ; the refusal of Louis XVI. to leave Paris in 
February, 1791 ; the death of the one true man, Gustavus III. ; 
the dastardly conduct of the Duke of Brunswick ; the deser- 



1792] COUNT AXEL FERSEN. 345 

tion of Dumouriez by his army, — the failure of all these 
great efforts and many lesser ones, the victims left at last to 
die abandoned, was a crushing, hopeless grief to his knightly 
soul. 

The close of his career carried on the fatality of its begin- 
ning. He seems never to have married, and to have lost in 
quick succession, soon after the queen's death, his dearest 
friends : his father, to whom he was deeply attached, his 
mother, sister, and his best friend. Baron Taube. For some 
years he lived a private life and travelled about Europe, 
always with a certain bitterness in his heart against Duke 
Charles, the Eegent of Sweden, for his desertion of the King 
and Queen of France. In November, 1796, the young king's 
minority came to an end, and he soon after appointed his 
father's friend to be his ambassador at the Congress of 
Eastadt. The French Eepublic refused to recognize Count 
Fersen, and the king then sent him to arrange his marriage 
with the granddaughter of the Grand-duke of Baden. 
This mission, however, did not prevent him from attending 
in a private capacity the conferences of the Congress. 

In 1801 he was made Grand-Marshal of Sweden, and a 
year later, lieutenant-general. In 1805, when the King of 
Sweden suddenly resolved to take an active part in the war 
against France, Count Fersen accompanied him through the 
campaign of that year in Swedish Pomerania. It is to his 
honour that he opposed the continuation of the war after it 
became useless through the peace made by Eussia and Prus- 
sia, the king's allies. His letters to the king on this subject, 
a few of which have been published, show his attachment to 
the welfare of his country ; but they offended the king, who 
ordered him to return to Sweden and remain there as 
chamberlain to the queen. 

After the dethronement of Gustavus IV., the exclusion of 



346 DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE [chap. xi. 

his descendants from the throne, and the accession of the 
late regent as Charles XIIL, the question of the succession 
to the throne led to political dissensions and public riots. 
Count Tersen was considered a partisan of the young son of 
Gustavus IV., and on the occasion of a great public proces- 
sion, which he was conducting as Grand Marshal of Sweden, 
he was dragged from his carriage and murdered by the 
populace, on the fatal date, to him, of June 20th in the year 
1810, — nineteen years after the flight to Varennes.] 



APPENDIX I. 



Count Fersen to Baron Tauhe. 

Aix-la-Chapelle, November 19, 1792. 

Mt dear Fkiend, — What an epoch is this we live in ! it seems 
as if Providence were accumulating fatal blows to crush that good 
and most unfortunate family ; my soul is torn in a thousand ways. 
You were already in despair, my friend, at the retreat of the Duke of 
Brunswick ; well, you will be still more so when you learn that the 
Austrians have thought themselves obliged to abandon the Low 
Countries on the approach of Dumouriez and a mob of bandits, 
thieves, and rebels. It is a horror to think of; especially when we 
know it is to the weakness, imbecility, lack of energy in the govern- 
ment and Duke Albert, who commanded the army, that we owe 
this disaster — for the troops are excellent; they did prodigies of 
valour, but were badly led. The Wallons fought well, and were 
faithful until the moment when they saw that Brussels and the 
whole country was about to be abandoned; then only did the 
majority depart; after which fear seized every one, each thought 
only of saving himself, and everything was abandoned ; cannon, 
magazines : nothing was carried away ; all was left to fall into the 
hands of the French. 

The country was not in a bad state ; there has been but one at- 
tempt at revolt, and that, a very slight one at Antwerp, was 
smothered by the burghers themselves ; no one, except the 
canaille, wanted the French; they have seen too much of the 
individual misery in France to wish to follow their example ; but 
the Austrian government basely fled and abandoned them : it is 
horrifying. Imagine, my friend, that at Mons, when Duke Albert 
at last decided, but too late, to attack, General Beaulieu was 
sent with six thousand men to attack seventy thousand ; he forced 



348 APPENDIX I. [1792 

them to give way, but the rest of the Austrian army did not sup- 
port him, and he was obliged to retreat to his position. I cannot 
begin to tell you the many little facts of this nature of which I 
have knowledge , briefly, the result of such multiplied follies is the 
retreat of the Austrians. Duke Albert has resigned the com- 
mand; Generals Clerfayt and Beaulieu have accepted it, after 
much entreaty. 

The princes and emigres are at Liege in a deplorable condition, 
without money, without resources, in the greatest misery, without 
knowing whether the Powers will help them out of it or not. The 
whole of this neighbourhood is disaffected, and awaits the arrival of 
the ^French to declare itself. The French maxims of liberty and 
equality are gaining ground in the Electorates; in short, my 
friend, if the sovereigns do not feel their own interests, and 
league together to stop the evil by crushing it now, they will all 
be its victims. There will soon be neither kings nor nobles, and 
all countries will experience the horrors to which France is now a 
victim ; to exist, and save enough to exist upon, a man must make 
himself a Jacobin. If you can procure the reading of my letters 
to the duke-regent you will see all the details of present events. 
We have no detailed news from Paris. They are busy with the 
king's trial; but there is reason to think he will not be executed, 
though certainly condemned. It is dreadful to me to write of 
such horrors, and I am cruelly tried. 

I left Brussels on the 9th with Simolin and Crawford. We 
had our own horses and others that we hired; we reached Maes- 
tricht on the 11th with great difl&culty, finding little to eat and 
nowhere to sleep. It was one long string of carriages and waggons 
the whole way, and never was there a more painful sight : those 
unfortunate French emigres on foot, or in carts, along the whole 
road, with scarcely anything to eat ; women of condition on foot, 
with their maids, or quite alone, carrying bundles in their arms or 
their babies ! At Maestricht we had great trouble in getting any 
shelter; eleven thousand persons had arrived in three days. We 
remained four days, and on the 16th came here. We shall stay a 
short time and then, as MM. Metternich, Simolin, Mercy, and de 
Breteuil are going to Dlisseldorf, I shall go too ; so will Simolin ; and 
I hope that Crawford will decide to settle there with us. Among 



1793] 



APPENDIX II. 349 



my other troubles I fear that I shall soon have private embarrass- 
ments as to money. All my property in Paris is sold, or is to 
be- that which I have left in the Low Countries, in care of a 
gentleman, will probably be pillaged by the French. I could not 
bring away with me all that I had in Brussels, and I know not ^ 
yet whether I can recover it or whether it is taken. You know, 
my friend, that I have never had one penny of salary; I desired 
none; the pleasure of serving my king and the King of France 
was ample compensation for my sacrifices ; but my position is be- 
coming prolonged; my prospects are very uncertain; this removal 
has cost me enormously, and I have sacrificed much money on 
couriers, etc., etc., for which no one can repay me. God knows 
I regret nothing, and if, in the end, I can feel that I have been 
useful to them, I shall never regret anything; I vow myself wil- 
lingly to all privations. I shall calculate, when I am rather more 
tranquil, what still remains to me, and then I shall see what I can 
do. I have made arrangements to have my letters sent to me 
from Brussels, but for the last few days none have reached me; 
that is still another privation and sorrow. 



APPENDIX II. 

Tlie ArchUshop of Tours to Count Fersen. 

[Extract of a letter from Paris.'] January 27, 1793. 

On the 21st, at half-past nine in the morning, the king came 
out of the Temple, escorted by four hundred cavalry and twelve 
hundred infantry. 

He was driven, in the midst of profound silence, along the 
boulevards du Temple, Saint-Martin, and Saint-Honore to the 
scaffold erected on the Place, formerly Louis XV., now called 
" Eevolution," between the spot where the statue stood and the 
entrance to the Champs-Elysees. 

On the back seat of the carriage and to left of the king, was 



350 APPENDIX II. [1793 

his confessor, an Irish priest; on the front seat were two officers 
of the gendarmerie. 

On reaching the foot of the scaffold, the king, with great cool- 
ness, allowed them to tie his hands ; he then mounted with much 
courage. 

He wished to speak to the people ; but the noise of the drums 
stifled his voice. Nevertheless, those who were near the scaffold 
heard these words, said in a firm voice : " I pardon my enemies, 
and I desire that my death may be the salvation of France." 

He drew his last breath at ten and three quarters ; his fallen 
head was shown to the people. At the same moment the air 
resounded with cries of " Vive la nation ! Vive la republique 
Franqaise ! " 

Several of the volunteers steeped their pikes in his blood ; 
others their handkerchiefs. 

His body and his head were brought and buried in the Made- 
leine. 

The Archbishop of Tours has the honour, in conformity with 
the wish of Monsieur le Comte de Fersen, to send him the sad and 
horrible details of the atrocious crime, which would forever dis- 
honour the French name were it not disavowed by those, in very 
great numbers, who are still worthy to bear it. 

Letters from Paris are absolutely silent as to the rest of the 
royal family. 

Sunday evening. 



INDEX. 



Albert (Archdute), commanding the 
Austrian troops iu the Low Coun- 
tries, 265; 291. 

Almack's, 10, 11. 

Andre {John, Major), 31-33. 

Arnold (Benedict, General), 31, 32. 

Artois (Comte d'), Charles X., 8, 18, 
72, 106, 110-112, 119, 120, 122, 126, 
130, 132, 140. 

Arville (Duchesse d'), 6, 8. 



Barnave (Antoine-Pierre-Joseph-Ma- 
rie), 234, 240, 242. 

Beegstedt (M.), Charge d'affaires 
from Sweden, his account of attack 
on the Tuileries, June 20, 1792, 324- 
326. 

Bezenval (Baron de), 18. 

BouFFLERS (Comtesse de), 11, 12. 

BouiLLE (Marquis de), 85, 88, 91, 96, 
97, 99, 102, 104, 107-109; 113, 114. 

Breteuil (Baron de), confidential en- 
voy of Louis XVI. to the Foreign 
Powers, 85, 87, 97, 105, 140, 141, 171, 
182, 192, 235, 251 ; his efforts to save 
the royal family, 262 et seq. ; his opin- 
ion of Pitt, 286. 

Brionne (Comtesse de), 6. 

Brunswick (Duke of), 219, 222, 267, 
271 ; his incapacity, 278, 279. 



Calonnb (Charles-Alexandre de). 111, 
112, 119, 123,124, 151, 177. 

Catherine II. (Empress of Russia), 
joins Gustavus III. in proposing a 
descent on Normandy to rescue the 



King and Queen of France, 119, 129 ; 
proposes a congress to Emperor Leo- 
pold, 135 ; urges the emperor to act, 
137, 151, 154, 15.5, 188, 199, 236. 

Chastellux (Frangois-Jean, Chevalier 
de), 23. 

Choiseul (Due de), 12, 113 ; gives Fer- 
sen an account of the 10th of August, 
1792, and of the failure at Varennes, 
271-277. 

Clinton (Sir George), 25, 52. 

Coblentz (Comte de), 131, 137. 

Cond6 (the Prince de), 72, 98, 99, 106. 

CoENWALLis (Charles, Lord), 27, 37, 
41-43 ; surrender at Yorktown, 52-53. 

Crawford (Mr.), 120, 121, 124, 175, 
242,262, 281, 284. 

Creutz (Count), Swedish ambassador, 
5, 6 ; letters to Gustavus III. about 
Count Fersen, 271-277. 



Deffand (Marquise du), 7, 12. 

Drooet (post-master at Varennes) ; 
Fersen sees him, a prisoner, 298, 299. 

DuMODRiEz (Charles-Frangois, Gen- 
eral), commanding French army to 
the Low Countries, 270 ; victory at 
Jemmapes, 279, 286 ; negotiates with 
Prince of Coburg, proposes to march 
on Paris and rescue queen and family, 
287 ; his army revolts against him, 
288 ; interview with Coimt Fersen, 
289-291. 



Elgin (Lord), British minister in Brus- 
sels, 268, 269, 270, 271,281. 



352 



INDEX. 



!6lisabeth (Madame) de France, 93, 

117, 175, 182, 240, 300, 325, 

326. 
Emigration (the Erench), beginning 

of it, 72 ; effect on the emigres of the 

king's death, 285. 
England (George III., King of), 10; 

letter to King of Sweden promising 

neutrality in affairs of France, 151, 

155, 156, 190. 
England (Charlotte, Queen of), 10. 
EsTAiNG (Amiral Comte d'), 22. 



Fac-similes of Marie Antoinette's writ- 
ing, 223-227. 

Fayette (Marie-Jean-Paul-Roch-Yves- 
Gilbert-Motier, Marquis de la), 30, 81, 
92-94, 115, 263-265. 

Federation (the Fete of) made ridicu- 
lous and indecent, 82, 83. 

Fersen (Frederick Axel, Field Mar- 
shal), letters of his son to him from 
America, 21-64; the same on the 
political aspects of France, 65-90; 
on Count Axel's resolution to devote 
himself to tlie King and Queen of 
France, 84, 85 ; at and after the 
King's attempt to escape, 114, 115. 

Fersen (Jean Axel, Count), his diary 
and papers, 1 ; birth, parentage, and 
education, 2, 3 ; extracts from diary, 
3-1 2 ; visits Voltaire at Ferney, 5 ; 
visit to Paris, the French Court, 
5-9; visit to London, 10, 11; de- 
sires a military career, 11 ; second 
visit to Paris, 12-14; the courtiers 
jealous of the queen's regard for 
him, his discretion, 13 ; desires to 
aid the Americans in their struggle 
for independence, 19; is appointed 
aide-de-camp to the Comte de Ro- 
chambeau, 20 ; sails from Brest, May 
4, 1780; letters to his father from 
America, 21-64; return to France; 
honours; Washington bestows the 
Order of Cincinnatus upon him, 65 ; 
confidential mission to the French 
Court, 66-68 ; letters to his father 
and King of Sweden on the political 



aspects of France at the beginning of 
the Revolution, 65-90 ; devotes him- 
self in gratitude to the King and 
Queen of France, 84, 85 ; memorial to 
the king and queen as to their course 
of action, 86-89 ; the king's adopted 
course, 90 ; makes preparations for 
the king and family to leave Paris, 
96-114; the safe escape, 114, 115, 
117 ; the stoppage at Varennes, 115 ; 
Fersen's despair, 117; begins his 
efforts to save the king and queen 
by a confidential mission to Emperor 
Leopold from Gustavus III. ; gallant 
proposal of Gustavus III., 119-139; 
failure to rouse the emperor to action, 
138 ; visits the princes and emigres 
at Coblentz, 140; efforts to obtain 
an armed congress, 141 ; his corres- 
pondence with Queen Marie Antoi- 
nette begins, 144; his letters to and 
from her, 164, 166, 168, 172, 173, 182, 
198, 205, 218, 229, 236, 238, 309, 311, 
313, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 321, 322, 
323, 324, 327, 328, 329, .331, 332, 333, 
334, 336, 337, 338, 339, .340, 342 ; let- 
ters to and from the King of Sweden, 
151, 152, 153, 154, 160, 207, 233, 234, 
305 ; letters to and from his friend, 
Baron Taube, 91-96, 98, 99, 100, 102, 
10.3, 110-112, 157, 161, 170, 232, 239, 
315, 318,347; memorial on the Eu- 
ropean position of the king and queen 
addressed by Fersen to the queen, 
186-198 ; diary from January 1, 1792, 
to November 18, 1793, 242-303 ; Fer- 
sen goes to Paris to induce the king 
and queen to escape, and fails, 244- 
251; confidential remarks to him by 
Louis XVI., 246, 305, 309 ; interviews 
with the queen, 247-249 ; distress at 
the death of the King of Sweden, 
255 ; begins fresh efforts to save the 
king and queen, 262 et seq. ; receives 
news of August 10, 1792, 263-264, 
266, 267 ; flight of the Austrians 
from Brussels after Jemmapes, 279- 
282, 347-349 ; horror at the death of 
Louis XVI., 283 ; renewed efforts to 
save the queen,284,293, 294-297 etseq. 



INDEX. 



353 



to end ; hopes raised by Dumouriez' 
proposal to dash on Paris and rescue 
her, 287 ; instantly disappointed, 288 ; 
sees Dumouriez, 289-291 ; anguish at 
the queen 's death, 300-303 ; Carlyle 
mistaken as to Fersen, 304 ; his after 
career and murder, June 20, 1810, 
304, 345, 346. 

Gates (Horatio, General), 27, 33. 

GOGUELAT (M.), 104, 108, 228, 322. 

Gkasse (Amiral Comte de), defeat of, 
56. 

Gkayes (Admiral), 24. 

GusTAVus III., King of Sweden, sketch 
of his character, 2, 3; his Court, 11 ; 
gratitude to him of the" King and 
Queen of France, 110; sends Count 
Fersen to Vienna to negotiate with 
Emperor Leopold a plan for the res- 
cue of the King of France and his 
family, 119; progress of the negotia- 
tion, 124-138; its failure, 139; let 
ter from him to Louis XVI., 146 
letters to Fersen, 151, 153, 154, 207 
memorial from him to Louis XVI., 
210; letter to same, 211 ; letters to 
Queen Marie Antoinette, 212, 213- 
217 ; his ardour in their cause, 189; 
his gallant efforts to save them, his 
death, 206; letters to Fersen, 233; 
from Fersen, describing his visit 
to Paris in February, 1792, 305- 
309. 

HoHENLOHE (General Prince), envoy to 
Vienna from the King of Prussia, 
133, 134, 138, 294. 

HoLSTEiN. See Stael. 

Jbmmapes (the battle of), 279. 



Kaunitz (Wenzel Anton, Prince), 112, 

127-128. 
Klinkowstrom (Baron), great-nephew 

of Count Fersen, edits his diary and 

correspondence relating to the Court 

of France, 2. 



Lamballb (Marie-Therese-Louise de 
Savoie-Carignan, Princesse de), 13, 
120, 142. 

Lauzun (Due de), 19, 32, 35. 

Leijel (Mile, de), 14. 

Leopold (The Emperor), 86 ; Count 
Fersen sent to negotiate with him 
for the rescue of the King and 
Queen of France, conversations be- 
tween them, 119, 124-127, 129- 
132, 135-137, 138, 139, 191, 197; 
his death, 206, 252, 253; the King 
of Sweden's opinion of him, 215, 
216. 

LiGNE (The Prince de), 14, 19, 299. 

Ligne (Prince Charles de), killed, 
269. 

Louis XV., 5. 

Louis XVI., as dauphin, 6, 8 ; asks Fer- 
sen's advice on his situation in 1791, 
85 ; his adopted course, 90 ; prevented 
by National Guard from going to Saint- 
Cloud, 93-95 ; determines to leave 
Paris, preparations for doing so, 96- 
112, 116; leaves Paris, 113, 114; his 
thanks to Count Fersen, 116 ; stopped 
at Varennes, 115 ; lacked firmness 
and head, 117 ; sanctions the Consti- 
tution, 139 ; vetoes decree against the 
emigres, 142 ; powers given by him to 
Monsieur and the Comte d'Artois, 
147 ; sanctions the Constitution, 162, 
164, 166, 170, 171; memorial written 
by him, 185 ; goes to the National 
Assembly, 220; confidential remarks 
to Fersen, 246 ; arraigned before the 
convention, his death, 283 ; his will, 
284. 



Marie Antoinette (dauphine and 
queen). Count Fersen's first knowl- 
edge of her as dauphine, 6, 8 ; a de- 
scription of her at that age, 8 ; Fer- 
sen's mention of her kindness to him, 
12; the courtiers jealous of it, 13; 
malignant calumnies against her, 14 ; 
Sainte-Beuve's estimate of her, 14- 
19 ; the Prince de Ligne's defence of 
her, 14, 19; forced removal from 



23 



354 



INDEX. 



Versailles to Paris, October 5, 1789, 
80 ; Count Fersen's resolve to devote 
himself bo her and the king in their 
helpless position, 84, 85 ; his memo- 
rial to her and the king on their 
course, 86-89 ; attempt to go to Saint- 
Cloud, 93-95 ; escapes from Paris, 
driven by Count Fersen, 114-117 ; 
stopped at Varennes, 115j her condi- 
tion on their return to Paris, 120; 
her letters to and from Fersen till 
August 10, 1792, 164-342 (see Fer- 
sen) ; letter to the Queen of Spain, 
228 ; forced by Barnave, Lameth, etc., 
to send a false memorial to the em- 
peror, 234, 240, 242, 247 ; her account 
to Fersen of the return from Va- 
rennes, 247-249 ; her conduct on Au- 
gust 10, 274 ; in the Temple, 285, 286 ; 
separated from her son, 292 ; taken 
to the conciergerie, 293 ; her trial, 
297; her death, 300; her suffering, 
301 ; her courage, 274, 302, 326. 

Maria Christina, Archduchess of 
Austria, Kegent of the Low Coun- 
tries, 118, 218, 256, 265. 

Marie-Therese de France, 240. 

Marck (Comtesse dela), 7. 

Maeck (Comte de la), 16, 17, 141, 243, 
293, 294. 

Mercy (Comte de), 85, 87, 97, 121, 
140, 142, 160, 163, 165, 168, 197-200, 
201, 204, 235, 244, 251, 259, 268, 270, 
281, 294. 

Metternich (Prince), 238, 256, 257, 
281. 



Narbonne (Louis, Comte de), 181, 203, 
222, 2.53, 259. 

Necker (Jacques), Fersen's judgment 
on him, 80, 82. 

Necker (Anne-Louise-Germaine,Mlle.), 
Count Fersen thinks of marriage with 
her, 66 ; Mr. Pitt one of her suitors, 
66 ; marries Baron de Stael-Holstein, 
67. See Stael, Mme. de. 

Newport, Rhode Island, Count Fer- 
sen's letters to his father from, 21- 
47. 



Orleans (Due d'), Philippe ifegalite, 
his faction, 93, 95, 258, 270, 289. 

Pamiees (The Bishop of), 182, 200, 

252, 288. 
Pitt (William), suitor of Mile. Necker, 

66; attitude to the royal family of 

France, 262, 269, 286. 
PoLiGNAC (" Comtesse Jules," Duchesse 

de), 17, 18, 130, 287. 
Provence (The Comte de), Monsieur, 6, 

114, 117, 118, 122, 176, 182, 267, 284, 

288, 289. 
Prussia, 133, 134, 138, 152, 153, 

157, 188; letter of the king of to 

Louis XVL, 230; his frugal life, 

269. 



Ranelagh, 9, 10. 

Rochambeau (Jean-Baptiste Donatien 
de Vimeur, Comte de). Count Fersen 
appointed on his staff for the expedi- 
tion to America, 20, 21, 22, 26, 30, 
40, 41, 45, 53, 62, 63, 255, 256, 258. 

Rodney (George Brydges, Admiral), 
30, 58. 

RouGEViLLE (M. de), makes an effort 
to save the queen, 301-303. 



Sainte-Beuvb (C.-A.), his estimate of 
Queen Marie-Antoinette, 14-19. 

Sardinia (Charles Emmanuel, King 
of) 5. 

SiMOLiN (Baron), 181, 239, 244, 281, 
282. 

Spain (Charles IV., King of), letter 
from him to King of Sweden, 149, 
187, 193, 194. 

Spain (Queen of), letter, to her from 
Queen Marie-Antoinette, 205. 

Stael-Holstbin (Baron) his begin- 
ning and rise, 66 ; marriage to Mile. 
Necker, difficulties caused by her in- 
fluence, 67. 

Staisl (Mme. de), 181, 203, 259. 

Sullivan (Mme.) urges efforts to save 
the king and family, 261. 

Swiss Guard (The), its fidelity and 



INDEX. 



355 



massacre on the 10th of August, 
1792, 273-275. 

Taube (Baron), Gentleman of the Bed- 
chamber to Gustavus III., 78, 88 ; let- 
ters to and from Fersen, 91-96, 98, 
99, 100-102, 103. UO-112, 157, 161, 
170, 232, 239,315, 318, 347. 

Thugut (Baron), 251, 254. 

Touus (Archbishop of), sends Fersen 
an account of the execution of Louis 
XVI. 283, 349. 

United States, French expedition 
under Comte de Rochambeau in aid 
of its independence, 21-64. 



Vergennes (Charles Gravier, Comte 

de), 21. 
Viomesnil (Chevalier and Baron de), 

2.3, 63, 143. 
VoLTAiKE, Count Fersen's visit to him 

at Ferney, 4, 5. 

Washington (General), Fersen's de- 
scription of him personally, 30 ; his 
discovery of Arnold's treachery, 31- 
32, 34, 36 ; coolness between him and 
Comte de Rochambeau, 40, 41. 

YoEKTOWN, the siege and surrender 
of, 47-53. 



LBJe'32 



ty 



